|
Between 1503 and 1532 the city of Naples hosted the splendid Madonna of the Fish by Raphael, which was destined for the church of San Domenico Maggiore: a work that - say the scholars - would enlighten the artists of several generations, before being removed from its location and moved to Madrid around the middle of the seventeenth century. For the first time after 400 years, the masterpiece by Raphael returns home in the exhibition “The other Renaissance. Spanish artists in Naples”, scheduled at the Museum of Capodimonte from March 9 to June 25. The “return” journey of the famous painting was possible thanks to the collaboration between the Neapolitan museum and Madrid's Prado, where today the painting is preserved and where the exhibition made a stop between October and January. Compared to the Madrid event, the Capodimonte exhibition stands out for its strong ties with the territory: many of the artists’ masterpieces selected by the curators of the exhibition Riccardo Naldi and Andrea Zezza have embellished the churches of the city, from San Giovanni a Carbonara to San Giacomo degli Spagnoli, symbol of the Spanish political and cultural presence in Naples. The Madonna of the Fish is just one of the works studied by the artists stationed in the city at the beginning of the sixteenth century, who incorporated and reworked the innovations of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and the other masters of Renaissance.
|