For three days, April 6-8, the Uffizi Galleries will celebrate five hundred years since Raphael’s death with a virtual tour through his masterpieces in Florence.
The tour will take the form of three videos, one published each day on the Uffizi Facebook page. The first of these will be set in the Modern Art Gallery of Palazzo Pitti, and will address the scale of Raphael’s influence. Beginning from Rodolfo Morgari’s painting ‘The Death of Raphael’ (1880), the video will look at his work through the responses of his commentators, including Giorgio Vasari.
The second video, to be published on April 7, is also shot in Palazzo Pitti, in the Sala di Saturno. Eike Schmidt, director of the Uffizi Galleries, will present and discuss Raphael’s Madonna della Seggiola (Madonna of the chair), one of the most famous paintings in the entire gallery.
The third video will take viewers into the Uffizi itself, into the room devoted exclusively to Michelangelo and Raphael. Anna Bisceglia, Uffizi curator of sixteenth-century painting, will elucidate the present works of the latter, with a particular focus on the most famous: the Madonna del Cardellino, or the Madonna of the Goldfinch.
“Here in Florence,” Schmidt commented, “we are lucky enough to have the largest collection of Raphael’s work in the world. We hope that our tour will not only be a chance for escapism, but also a chance to reflect on Italy’s glories and immense resources.”
The Uffizi’s Instagram and Twitter feeds will also be posting daily about Raphael and his work.
