Raphael (Raffaello di Giovanni Santi) (Italian, 1483–1520)
Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn
1505-6
Oil on canvas, transferred from wood
Galleria Borghese, Rome (371)
Image © Galleria Borghese, photo by Mauro Coen
The presenting sponsor of the exhibition is Morgan Stanley.
Major funding is provided by Kenneth C. Griffin and Griffin Catalyst, and Jessie and Charles Price.
Significant support is provided by the Richard Riney Family Foundation, the Ing Foundation, and Anthony W. and Lulu C. Wang.
Additional support is provided by Jim Breyer, the Fay Etta and Irving Flax Foundation, Julie and David Tobey, Barbara A. Wolfe, Gilbert and Ildiko Butler, Debra and Leon Black, Mark Gorenberg and Cathrin Stickney, the Robert Lehman Foundation, Dinah Seiver and Thomas E. Foster, Ann M. Spruill and Daniel H. Cantwell, and The Coby Foundation, Ltd.
Raphael (Raffaello di Giovanni Santi) (Italian, 1483–1520)
Saint Catherine in Three-Quarter Length (Cartoon for the Painting in the National Gallery, London)
ca. 1507
Charcoal, black chalk, highlighted with white gouache and white chalk, on four sheets of paper glued with overlapping seams (original paper support), outlines pricked for transfer of the design
Musée du Louvre, Paris, département des Arts graphiques (3871)
Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY, photo by Michel Urtado
“This unprecedented exhibition will offer a groundbreaking look at the brilliance and legacy of Raphael, a true titan of the Italian Renaissance,” said Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. “Visitors will have an exceptionally rare opportunity to experience the breathtaking range of his creative genius through some of the artist’s most iconic and seldom loaned works from around the globe—many never before shown together.”
Raphael (Raffaello di Giovanni Santi) (Italian, 1483–1520)
The Virgin and Child with Infant Saint John the Baptist in a Landscape (The Alba Madonna)
ca. 1509-11
Oil on canvas (transferred from wood)
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., Andrew W. Mellon Collection (1937.1.24)
Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
Among the highlights will be The Virgin and Child with Infant Saint John the Baptist in a Landscape (The Alba Madonna) from the National Gallery of Art, one of the most emblematic examples of Raphael’s mastery over High Renaissance ideals of harmony and classical beauty, which will be united with his preparatory drawings from the Museum of Fine Arts, Lille, and Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione, now in the Louvre, widely regarded as one of the greatest portraits of the High Renaissance.
Raphael (Raffaello di Giovanni Santi) (Italian, 1483–1520)
Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione
1514-1516
Oil on canvas Musée du Louvre, Paris, département des Peintures (611 [MR 437])
Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY
Lenders include the Accademia Carrara (Bergamo), Albertina (Vienna), Ashmolean Museum (Oxford), British Museum (London), Galleria Borghese (Rome), Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini (Rome), The Duke of Devonshire and Trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement (Chatsworth), Galleria Nazionale delle Marche (Urbino), Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria (Perugia), Kupferstichkabinett (Berlin), Louvre (Paris), Fondazione Brescia Musei (Brescia), National Gallery (London), National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Palais des Beaux-Arts (Lille), Patrimonio Nacional de España (Madrid), Pinacoteca Comunale of Città di Castello, Pinacoteca Nazionale (Bologna), Prado (Madrid), Städel Museum (Frankfurt), Szépmüvészeti Múzeum (Budapest), Gallerie degli Uffizi (Florence), and the Vatican Museums, among others.
“The seven-year journey of putting together this exhibition has been an extraordinary chance to reframe my understanding of this monumental artist,” said Carmen Bambach, the Marica F. and Jan T. Vilcek Curator in The Met’s Department of Drawings and Prints. “It is a thrilling opportunity to engage with his unique artistic personality through the visual power, intellectual depth, and tenderness of his imagery.”
Raphael (Raffaello di Giovanni Santi) (Italian, 1483–1520)
The Head and Hands of Two Apostles (“Auxiliary Cartoon” for the Transfiguration)
ca. 1519-20
Black chalk, traces of white gouache highlights, drawn freehand over pounce marks (spolvero underdrawing) on laid paper
Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Presented by a Body of Subscribers in 1846 (WA1846.209)
Image © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Though he lived a mere 37 years, Raphael achieved such profound success as a painter, designer, and architect that he was regarded as the pinnacle of artistic perfection for centuries after his death. The son of a painter and poet, Raphael engaged with the foremost writers and thinkers of his age in Rome, displaying a poetic sensibility that captivated his peers and generations that followed. Matching ambition with lyricism, he created works with both intellectual heft and emotional depth, a necessary skill in the complex political landscape of Renaissance courts.
The exhibition will unfold roughly chronologically, tracing Raphael’s life and career, with thematic sections focused on the development of his ideas and imagery. Recent scientific discoveries will also be incorporated. By featuring drawings in relationship to paintings and works in other media, the presentation will demonstrate Raphael’s prodigious versatility and creative process. The figural compositions in his paintings, drawings, tapestry designs, and prints reveal him to be an unparalleled storyteller, and this exhibition will pay particular attention to his portrayal of women—from his pioneering use of nude female models to his sensitive portrayals of the Madonna and Child.
Raphael (Raffaello di Giovanni Santi) (Italian, 1483–1520)
The Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia with Saints Paul, John the Evangelist, Augustine, and Mary Magdalene
ca. 1515-16
Oil on canvas (transferred from wood)
Polo Museale dell’Emilia Romagna, Pinacoteca Nazionale, Bologna (577)
Image: Scala / Art Resource, NY
Credits and Related Content
Raphael: Sublime Poetry is curated by Carmen C. Bambach, the Marica F. and Jan T. Vilcek Curator in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Met will host a variety of exhibition-related programs, to be announced at a later date.
A fully illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition and be available for purchase from The Met Store.
The catalogue is made possible by Katharine Rayner and the Wolfgang Ratjen Stiftung, Liechtenstein.
Additional support is provided by the Tavolozza Foundation, Allston Chapman, Katherina Minardo Macht and William Strong Barrett, Matthew and Ann Nimetz, The Schiff Foundation, Christopher Bishop Fine Art, and Robert M. Buxton.
The exhibition is featured on The Met website, as well as on social media using the hashtag #MetRaphael.