At the Italian Institute of Culture in New York the opening of an exhibition also becomes a moment of reflection: Raphael Beyond the Visible is the title of the meeting that, on April 10, 2026, officially inaugurated the exhibition Raphael and the Colours of the Antique. An exhausted event, which brings together dissemination, research and culture around the figure of Raffaello Sanzio.
It is not only a presentation, but a conversation built as a bridge between institutions. On the one hand the Villa Farnesina, the original place of the Raffaelleschi pictorial cycles; on the other the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which in the same months houses the great exhibition Raphael: Sublime Poetry.
The heart of the evening was a panel dedicated to new discoveries on Raffaello. Among others, the curator Carmen Bambach and the researcher Marco Leona, together with the restorer Virginia Lapenta and the institutional representative Giulia Silvia Ghia. To moderate, the director of the Istituto Claudio Pagliara.
The exhibition through scientific analysis and digital tools, reconstructs the pigments and techniques used by Raffaello in the decoration of the Farnesina, making visible details normally difficult to observe, such as the botanical wealth of the lodges or the use of colors of ancient origin.
In this sense, the title of the Beyond the Visible meeting works almost as a method statement. Looking beyond the surface of the work today means crossing the history of art and materials science, but also inserting Raffaello’s work into a wider network of cultural exchanges.
Article <i>Raphael Beyond the Visible,</i> in dialogue between Villa Farnesina and Met in New York proviene da IlNewyorkese.
