Milan, for Diocesan Museum Christmas exhibition comes Raphael

The appointment with the traditional Christmas exhibition of the Diocesan Museum “Carlo Maria Martini” in Milan is renewed: this year the “Masterpiece for Milan” (this is the name of the exhibition from a single work) is the predella of the Pala Oddi by Raffaello Sanzio (Urbino, 1483 - Rome, 1520), which from Nov. 4, 2022 to Jan. 29, 2023 arrives on loan from the Vatican Museums, where it is exhibited in Room VIII of the Pinacoteca dedicated to Raphael.

The work, a tempera on panel (39 x 188 cm), is divided into three compartments depicting theAnnunciation, theAdoration of the Magi and the Presentation in the Temple. On the occasion of the exhibition, curated by Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, and Nadia Righi, director of the Diocesan Museum of Milan, with the collaboration of Fabrizio Biferali, under the patronage of the Lombardy Region, the Municipality of Milan, the Archdiocese of Milan, with contributions from UniCredit, GiGroup, the predella underwent restoration, conducted in the Laboratorio di Restauro Pitture of the Vatican Museums and executed by master Paolo Violini. The precious colors used by Raphael have thus recovered their original brilliance.

The Oddi Altarpiece, one of three important commissions the Urbino painter received in Perugia in the early 16th century, was made for the Oddi family altar in the church of San Francesco al Prato. The painting remained in its original location until 1797: in that year it was requisitioned by the French and taken to Paris, where it remained until 1815, when it returned to Italy and at the behest of Pope Pius VII became part of the new Vatican Pinacoteca. The altarpiece, executed around 1504, is considered Raphael’s closest work to Perugino and consists of a central painting depicting the Coronation of the Virgin and the predella dedicated to three Marian episodes. In both the central compartment and the predella, the two poles of Raphael’s training are evident: on the one hand, the refined artistic and cultural climate of the Montefeltros’ Urbino; on the other, the painting of Perugino, one of the most celebrated painters active around the mid-1590s between Perugia and Florence.

The three compartments of the predella clearly reveal the influence of Perugino, but at the same time the genius of the young painter already projected toward fully Renaissance solutions, with innovative and modern outcomes. TheAnnunciation, which occupies the space on the left, clearly shows Raphael’s debt to Piero della Francesca and Perugino and in particular echoes the similar one painted by the Umbrian painter in 1497 in the predella of the altarpiece of Santa Maria Nova in Fano. The decorative motif of the floor is extraordinary, designed according to a geometric pattern that emphasizes the open perspective fugue on the gentle landscape of the background. Evident especially in Mary’s gesture with her raised right hand, which alludes to the Virgin’s disbelief at the announcement of her motherhood, is the reference to Piero della Francesca’s model in Arezzo.

The predella’s central scene, anAdoration of the Magi, is also anchored in Perugino’s manner, but the young Raphael here proposes an unprecedented unified spatiality, thanks to the scaled arrangement of the figures in perspective in space, made effective by the expedient of horses arranged along crossed diagonals, thus emphasizing the vanishing point. The Marian trilogy of the predella concludes with the scene of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, in which the absolute protagonist from the scene is the interior of a centrally planned temple, supported by columns and pillars with Ionic capitals, revealing Raphael’s passion for architecture and his in-depth knowledge of classical buildings. The perspective foreshortening of the scene is admirable, revealing the young Urbino’s assimilation of Piero della Francesca’s perspective theories.

A Masterpiece for Milan has the patronage of the Lombardy Region, the City of Milan, and the Archdiocese of Milan. Sponsors: Unicredit, Gi Group. Supporters: SZA law firm, Rocca Foundation, A2A, Studio Greenberg Traurig Santa Maria. Technical sponsor: Zeroglass. SilvanaEditoriale catalog.

In past editions, the Museo Diocesano Carlo Maria Martini has hosted works such as the Deposition (Pinacoteca Vaticana) and the Capture of Christ (Dublin, National Gallery) by Caravaggio, theAnnunciata (Palermo, Regional Gallery) andEcce Homo (Piacenza, Alberoni College) by Antonello da Messina, the Nativity by Lorenzo Lotto (Brescia, Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo), the Natività by Filippo Lippi (Prato, Musei Civici), the Judith by Botticelli (Florence, Uffizi), the Holy Family by Andrea Mantegna (Fort Worth, Texas, Kimbell Art Museum), theAdoration of the Magi by Albrecht Dürer (Florence, Uffizi), Perugino’s Adoration of theShepherds (Perugia, National Gallery), Veronese’sAdoration of the Magi (Vicenza, Church of Santa Corona), Artemisia Gentileschi ’sAdoration of the Magi (Pozzuoli Cathedral), and Titian’sAnnunciation, from the Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples.

The exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Guido Cornini, head of the Department of the Arts and curator of the Department for the Art of the 15th and 16th Centuries of the Vatican Museums. For all information you can visit the website of the Diocesan Museum of Milan.

Milan, for Diocesan Museum Christmas exhibition comes Raphael

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