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The Scuderie del Quirinale gallery has sold
almost 70,000 tickets in online sales even before the doors open
to the public, a record for such an exhibition here, but the
government battle to halt the infection could yet wreck the
event.
Amongst the measures that ministers are considering are banning
public gatherings and ordering people to maintain a distance of
at least one meter (yard) from one another - impossible to
imagine in the confined space of a major art show.
"We are just keeping our fingers crossed and praying it can go
ahead as planned," said a senior official at the Scuderie as
workers put the finishing touches to the exhibition, which is
due to open on Thursday and run until June 2.
More than 2,500 people in Italy have come down with coronavirus
in less than two weeks and at least 79 people have died.
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, known in the English-speaking world
as Raphael, was born in 1483 and died just 37 years later after
a sudden illness in Rome. He was one of the most celebrated
artists of his age.
The exhibition covers not just his famed paintings, but also his
involvement in archaeology, architecture and poetry, as well as
prints, sculpture and tapestry.
The curators have managed to bring together 204 works of art,
including 120 by Raphael himself and other pieces that give an
insight into the times he lived - a period now known as the High
Renaissance, an enlightened age marked by a renewed interest in
classical antiquity.
Raphael's masterpieces are found today in museums around the
world, and many of them, including Madrid's Prado, London's
National Gallery and the Washington National Gallery of Art,
have sent their priceless art work to Rome.
"I am sure we will never see again such a concentration of works
by Raphael together in one venue as we do here," said Eike
Schmidt, the director of Florence's Uffizi museum which itself
offered up nine paintings and 40 drawings.
Showing the passions that Raphael's work engenders, the entire
scientific committee at the Uffizi resigned last month to
protest at Schmidt's decision to loan one of its paintings to
the Scuderie in defiance of their recommendation.
The committee said the portrait of Pope Leo X was core to the
identity of their collection and should never be let out of
Florence. Schmidt overruled them, deciding that such an iconic
painting deserved to return to the city it was created in.
Marzia Faietti, who curated the show, spent three years trying
to persuade other museums to give up their treasures.
"We got more than we thought we would get. I am so grateful. It
just shows the friendships in place between Italy and all these
other galleries," Faietti told Reuters. "This is the only time
and the only place where you can get to see them all."
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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