In Marche, the impossible exhibition on Raphael: 45 of his paintings all reproduced on a 1:1 scale

The Marche Region, in collaboration with ENIT-National Tourism Agency and Aerdorica Aeroporto delle Marche and with the support of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism, presents at Falconara Marittima Airport, from November 22, 2019 to January 6, 2020, Raphael. The Impossible Exhibition, thus kicking off the celebrations for the 500th anniversary of the Urbino master’s death planned for 2020.

The Marche Region, starting from Urbino, the birthplace of Raphael Sanzio as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, through the life and works of the great Renaissance artist, wants to lead visitors to discover the territory. And it intends to do so by organizing a “hypossible exhibition” in the Marche airport named after him. The exhibition Raphael An Impossible Exhibition, conceived and curated by Renato Parascandolo and with the scientific direction of Ferdinando Bologna, who recently passed away, presents 45 paintings by Raphael (including the fresco of The School of Athens) reproduced on a 1:1 scale and brought together, thus making it possible to admire in a single exhibit works scattered in 17 different countries, a feat that not even Raphael himself succeeded in doing.

A dazzling career that of Raphael, who died at the age of only 37, which the exhibition recounts by placing side by side reproductions of works housed in the world’s major museums (from the Uffizi in Florence to the Vatican Museums, from the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan to the Galleria Borghese in Rome, passing through the Louvre in Paris, the Prado in Madrid and the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, and on to St. Petersburg at theHermitage and the National Gallery in Washington, just to name a few) that preserve such absolute masterpieces as the Madonna Conestabile, the Madonna of Terranuova, the Marriage of the Virgin, the Madonna of the Goldfinch, the Deposition, the Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione and many others until arriving at the Vatican Stanze for which Raphael came to Rome hired by Pope Julius II that marked his consecration as interpreter of the “modern manner.”

The aim of the exhibition and of the Marche region is to appeal primarily to young people and to those who do not usually frequent museums and art exhibitions, allowing a wide and expanded audience to approach the greatest authors in the history of art (in this case Raphael) through reproductions of their works of the highest quality and value. Borrowing the instances of cultural democracy inspired by André Malraux, Paul Valéry and Walter Benjamin, this operation is not intended to downplay the “sacredness” of the original masterpiece but, on the contrary, the dissemination of reproductions is meant to be a way (“philologically impeccable,” assure the organizers) to invite Italian and foreign tourists who will come to the Marche Region to discover the masterpieces preserved in the territory and more generally in our country, as Salvatore Settis says: “I like copies. I like them because they spread knowledge about works of art.”

Ferdinando Bologna, who curated the selection and catalog of Raphael’s works in the exhibition, argued, “Impossible Exhibitions allow a deeper knowledge of the works and a juxtaposition, by comparison, of works that are normally far apart. Above all, this new generation of art reproductions, at very high definition and life-size, allows an approach to the originals that the originals themselves, in the conditions in which they are normally found, whether in museums or in their own venues, do not allow.” In fact, the reproductions are printed on a transparent fabric and backlit, and this solution, in addition to giving the paintings a special suggestiveness, makes it possible to capture details and nuances that are difficult to appreciate in the original canvases with the naked eye or in the printed reproductions.

The Marche Region has also decided, to celebrate 2020 dedicated to Raphael, to take the exhibition Raphael The Impossible Exhibition beyond national borders. In fact, after the Falconara airport, the exhibition will arrive at Le Carrousel du Louvre in Paris from February 2020, but not only that, over the next year it will touch other European cities until it reaches Russia.

“We are inaugurating not just an exhibition, but a new kind of museum and a new way of doing culture. We are opening in the Marche a digital frontier at the service of Culture, advanced technology in favor of Art, the essence of the concept of cultural democracy as the possibility for everyone to enjoy beauty, to be able to experience those emotions that only masterpieces in natural dimensions are able to convey and otherwise difficult to reach,” says Luca Ceriscioli, President of the Marche Region. “And what better beginning for such a cultural operation than the genius of Raphael, the Urbino whose 500th anniversary of his death we are about to celebrate? The choice of the Marche ’Raffaello Sanzio’ Airport is also naturally in tune with these objectives: in short, it is a journey inside Raphael’s world, an unusual way to deepen our knowledge of him in a place of passage that will be enhanced by this exhibition but which in turn becomes... a vector of Marche’s beauty and a launch of our image in the world. The immortal and universal icon of Raphael, sublimated in these reproductions, thus becomes an ambassador of the beauty of Le Marche in the world. An ’impossible’ exhibition but one that makes it possible to approach the purest Art. And it will tour Europe in 2020, representing an extraordinarily effective tool for making known the many aspects of the regional tourism offer. I am sure that even in front of these magnificent reproductions of such high definition, the Stendhal syndrome might get the upper hand...”

Continues Moreno Pieroni, regional councillor for Tourism-Culture: “We can say that this innovative form of exhibition, a compendium of the masterpieces of one of the most illustrious sons of this land, through images of an extraordinary quality, sums up well two characteristics of Marche: first, it summarizes at a glance the reason why Lonely Planet has recognized us as a Top Destination 2020 and that is the fascination of discovering wonders in a place where you would not expect to find them, as indeed an airport is;secondly, the fact that we wanted to organize this exhibition in such an unusual venue, yet a symbol of travel and vacation, best expresses the accomplished combination of Tourism and Culture on which we have strongly focused in this legislature. And the various awards, the results achieved, the commitments also rewarded by the numbers of tourists who have visited our region, the fact that we have overcome difficult moments with teamwork, have proved us right. Therefore, once again we mark a kind of primacy, an innovation within innovation: having connected a non-deputed place to Culture in order to capture the largest number of users. I am sure, therefore, that this exhibition will become the best calling card of the beauty of the Marches for those who are going to visit them also during the Christmas period.”

“It is essential to go through the history, the experience and the works of people like Raphael and to publicize his work as much as possible in order to help spread Italy’s identity and amplify its tourist attractiveness. Cultural tourism in fact passes through the geniuses of art and continues to be a tourism product with growing and inexhaustible potential that fosters the value-based growth of Italy as a sustainable tourism destination,” says Enit Executive Director Giovanni Bastianelli. “Organized tourist flows are growing and cultural Italy is a brand that is increasingly positioned at the top of the choices of foreign visitors who thirst for knowledge of Italic art.”

The Marche Region, with Raphael The Impossible Exhibition, is preparing to open the new year in the sign of art, but not only. 2020 will also be the year of the Lauretan Jubilee to mark the centenary of the proclamation of the Virgin Lauretana as the universal patron saint of aeronauts on March 24, 1920. The Jubilee will begin on December 8, 2019, with the opening of the Holy Door at the Shrine of Loreto presided over by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of Vatican City, and will end on December 10, 2020.

In addition, the Marche Outdoor project continues, which was inaugurated in 2019 and will have world cycling champion Vincenzo Nibali as an exceptional testimonial. The philosophy of the project is to promote a sustainable economy of the territory, proposing cycling as a means and not as an “end” and making the cyclist experience all the emotions that the region can offer, through 24 cycling routes that cover all of Marche.

Source: release

In Marche, the impossible exhibition on Raphael: 45 of his paintings all reproduced on a 1:1 scale

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