Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister: Raphael – The Power of Renaissance Images

Jesus mit fünf Jüngern in Booten auf dem See Genezareth beim Fischen

Raphael – The Power of Renaissance Images

The Dresden Tapestries and their Impact

On the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Raphael's (1483-1520) death, the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister is presenting an extensive special exhibition on the Dresden tapestries of the important painter and architect of the Italian High Renaissance.

Exhibition Site Zwinger

DATES 06/06/2020—30/08/2020

From 1515, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) was commissioned by Pope Leo X to create ten large-format cartoons; designs which were used in Brussels to weave the tapestries for the Sistine Chapel. Now found in the Vatican Museums, these were hung for the first time at Christmas in 1519. Raphael's cartoons, today in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, were purchased in Genoa in 1623 by the future King Charles I of England, who sent them to the Mortlake tapestry workshop for use in weaving further series. The series of six wall hangings which came into the collection of Elector Friedrich August I of Saxony (Augustus the Strong) in 1728 were also made there.

Three are dedicated to Saint Peter, the other three to Saint Paul. They depict Bible scenes, such as the Acts of the Apostles by the magician Elymas, who was struck blind when he tried to prevent the governor of Cyprus from believing in the words of the apostles Paul and Barnabas. The exhibition focuses on Raphael's tapestries and designs and their outstanding influence on subsequent artists up to the 19th century through a wealth of examples of their reception.

Numerous loans from Germany and abroad will be on display - drawings by Raphael and his workshop, tapestries and important paintings by Rubens, Poussin and Garofalo from Paris, London, Stockholm and Vienna. From November 2020, the exhibition will move to the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio.

**Ausstellungsansicht "Raffael - Macht der Bilder. Die Tapisserien und ihre Wirkung."** Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister

Online Lectures

Due to the current situation, the planned program of events and lectures cannot take place as planned. The speakers have therefore prepared the planned lectures in the form of online conferences in which they discuss current research results.

Online-Lecture

Restorations and studies of Raphael's works at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence

Cecilia Frosinini, art historian and conservator at Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florenz (in Italian)

Online-Lecture

Raphael and Drawing: a closer look

Angelamaria Aceto, Ashmolean Museum Oxford

Events

Currently no dates

Publication

Publication accompanying the special exhibition

Raphael. The Power of Renaissance Images

Publisher: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden; Stephan Koja, 336 pages, publication date 6.6.2020, Sandstein Verlag, ISBN 978-3-95498-551-7, 48 € (34 € museum edition)