Raffaello, Leonardo and Caravaggio. Three artists united, in Naples, from a thin red thread. That of an exhibition. ‘The illustrious guest’, a unicum conceived ten years ago for Gallerie d’Italia-Napoli by the current deputy director Antonio De Nunzio, brings to the historical partnership ‘La Dama con Liocorno’ of Raffaello. A masterpiece conceived in the early 1500s, presumably between 1503 and 1505, which takes the place until next June 22 of the ‘Martyrdom of Sant’Orsola’ in Caravaggio, on loan to Galleria Borghese for the great exhibition on Michelangelo da Merisi, coming from this museum.
A transfer that, as explained by Francesca Cappelletti, director of Galleria Borghese, has started new Studies of the Opera di Raffaello. “The exhibitions are and must always be an opportunity for research and study – he says – for the ‘lady’ we focused on the conservative history of the work, including the radiographs of the 1930s and the subsequent analyzes, which made it an important case of the history of the restoration. It still remains to be understood from where it comes from”.
Also for Silvia Ginzburg, professor of art history in the Roma Tre University, the exhibition of the painting in Naples has created the “possibility of dealing with literature linked to it and reminding our idea of Raffaello in an important step of its development that goes from the ‘400 to the great discovery of Leonardo, that is, of the modern style, as Vasari said”.
The work, he recalls, “struggled to be recognized as Raffaello, attribution proposed by Longhi (in 1927, ed.), Because it is on the ridge” of the passage of the Painter Urbinate from the youth to the most mature and more modern ‘one.
“Raffaello was not a pupil of anyone – explains Ginzburg in the rich catalog of allesses – always drawing for many and by combining different ideas reworked independently; however the body -to -hand body that came across Leonardo and in particular with the Mona Lisa he has no comparison in his entire path”. The start date of the Mona Lisa, explains the art historian, speaking with the reporters, “today is sure, October 1503says a note dated in a document that mentions a ‘Caput Lisae’ on which Leonardo works “.
And precisely from the radiographs of the last century and from other investigations, for example, the girl of the painting emerges how at first had an setting of the more frail shoulders and neck, as studies highlight in the elaboration phases of the Leonardian masterpiece. “There are indisputable traces of Raffaello updates not only on Leonardo, but also on a ‘Florentine’ Perugino who meet in ‘The lady with Liocorno’ – continues the scholar – Raffaello Tallona Leonardo. You can also see it from the columns, which are the ‘new’. Leonardo in the Mona Lisa alludes you, to give awareness that the figure is placed on a loggia with the light of the outside. Raffaello is in that condition, the face has preserved shadows and the columns also show two sources of light, one exterior, behind the woman, and one internal.
Just the relationship with the Mona Lisa, “very strong”, suggests a Raphael stay in Florence shorter than the one ascertained (1504-08) and with a dating proposed around 1503.
‘The lady with Liocorno’ derives his Setting from the Mona Lisawhich is generally known for the first time by Raffaello shortly after the transfer to Florence of the end of 1504, but which can be supposed to be in processing already the previous year, during a first short stay in the city. Returning to studying it on the occasion of the Neapolitan exhibition made it possible to reflect on the executive sequence of Mona Lisa herself, of which Raffaello was the first and, on several occasions over time, the most attentive spectator.
The review ‘The illustrious guest‘, curated and promoted by Intesa Sanpaolo, since 2015 exhibited in its museums of the galleries of Italy and at the Skyscraper of Turin in relief works on a temporary loan from prestigious Italian and international museums.
“Accepting the ‘Lady with Liocorno’ confirms the solid bond of friendship and collaboration with the Borghese Gallery, symbol of the beauty and value of the Italian cultural heritage – explains Michele Coppola, Executive Director of the Culture and Historical Heritage of Intesa Sanpaolo – the review ‘The illustrious guest’ and the editorial series edited by Allemandi testify to the commitment of the galleries of Italy in promoting the knowledge and sharing of great knowledge. masterpieces, offering an ever wider audience of scholars and enthusiasts also opportunities for discovery “.
The current appearance of ‘La Dama with Licorno’ is the result of a historic restoration intervention followed by a dense critical story that developed from the second half of the nineteenth century. Until 1936, in fact, the portrait character was considered Santa Caterina d’Alessandria, characterized by the usual attribute of the dentate wheel visible instead of the current unicorn; On his shoulders a heavy mantle changed the profile of the figure, covering part of the view on the landscape behind. The work was returned to Raffaello by the art historian Roberto Longhi in 1927, before the restoration that freed it from subsequent interventions.
The radiographic investigations carried out on the painting showed that before the unicorn, emblem of chastity, Raffaello had painted a dog, symbol of loyalty: therefore it is plausibly a portrait performed on the occasion of a wedding.