Year of Italy in Russia

[Тютчев]

"The Lady with the Unicorn" by Rafael represented the Moscow public

19/03/201114: 37

MOSCOW, March 19 - RIA Novosti. The painting "Lady with a Unicorn" (Dama col liocorno, 1504-1506) artist of the Renaissance of Raphael Santi was presented Saturday at the Italian Embassy in Moscow, the launch of the Year in Italy in Russia, a masterpiece were Culture Minister Alexander Avdeev, Minister of Science and Education of Italy Mariyastella Dzhelmini (Mariastella Gelmini) and the Italian Ambassador Antonio Zanardi-Landi (Antonio Zanardi Landi).

"Arriving in Moscow," the Lady with a Unicorn "from Rome Galleria Borghese (Galleria Borghese) - an example of what can be done by ambassadors and embassy when the two countries have excellent relations. I know that this is a personal initiative of the Ambassador, which was supported by museums in Italy and leadership of the country, "- said Avdeev.

"It's a great gesture of friendship" - he said in Italian.

"The Lady with the Unicorn" before March 24 will stay in the mansion Berg in Money Lane, where the embassy is located in Italy, and then move to the Pushkin Museum of Fine and stay there until May 10. Raphael masterpiece opens a whole program monovystavok: in June and July, the embassy will show "Double Portrait" Giorgione of the Roman Palazzo Venezia, in September and October may bring "Medusa's head" Bernini (1630) from the Capitoline Museums, and in December-January show "A young man with a basket of fruit" Caravaggio, again from the Borghese Gallery - the last leaf will also participate in large-scale exhibition, scheduled for December 2011 - February 2012.

"In Russia, from Italy expects a lot, and we will try to meet the expectations" - said Dzhelmini, promising that the events related to Italy to continue in Russia and in 2012.

"Ozone" painting

"The Lady with the Unicorn" written in 1504, when still very young Raphael came to Florence and briefly crossed paths there with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. "Konencho, he was captured, stunned the Mona Lisa," - noted the director of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Irina Antonova.

Art historians have repeatedly compared the two portraits of smiling ladies, however, convinced Antonova, comparisons begin and end on the fact that both heroines are the viewer in a landscape.

"The image of Leonardo - an image built on contact with the audience. But Mona Lisa - a psychological attack, a clot of energy, and the title role in this play famous leonardovskoe" Sfumato (reception at the painting, softening the outlines depicted), disturbing the viewer. Rafael holds a strong-willed attack another character: it relies on the plastic power of the image, for it plays an important role color. I call this painting "ozone, oxygen saturation, because of its very lightening tone, which creates an image of purity, innocence, femininity and many other virtues, that there is this woman, "- said the director of the Pushkin Museum.

Three in one

According to the head of the United museums of Rome (Polo museale di Roma) Rosselli Vaudreuil (Rossella Vodret), the heroine during the creation of Raphael's paintings had to replace several roles, and discover it only during the radiographic study, that "The Lady with the Unicorn" has undergone in 1927, the first time in the history of Italian science.

Revealed that the first Raphael wrote the girl with a dog on her lap. "Maybe it was a wedding portrait, which was before the marriage was supposed to send the groom. Dog - a symbol of marital fidelity," - said Vaudreuil.

However, the picture was not finished.

"Why - we do not know. Maybe the wedding was upset, perhaps, the groom died. Whatever it was, Raphael went back to this thing just a few years later, and then we finished the hands of ladies, who now has embraced a unicorn. Thus, the symbolic meaning the picture changes: the unicorn - a sign of purity and chastity, "- said the head of the United museums.

According to her, after several decades, at the end of the XVI century "Lady with a unicorn" became a St. Catherine of Alexandria: the unknown artist covered her shoulders, a cloak and depicted in the background of the wheel, a symbol of martyrdom of the saint. And just in time restoration 1935-36's picture back the previous form. Appeared in parallel assumption is that, "The Lady with the Unicorn" was a portrait of Giulia Farnese, the mistress of Pope Alexander VI Borgia, but later found unsubstantiated conjecture.

Vaudreuil noted that "The Lady with the Unicorn" rarely leaves the boundaries of Italy. Preparation of its visit to Moscow lasted for three months: in the beginning has been made air-tight container, which should remain familiar to the climate pattern, then a wooden box of special design, which allows tightly secure container, without giving the board a fragile move even a millimeter. In a specially equipped car masterpiece of Raphael taken to the Rome airport, from where he left out the government, flew to Moscow.

http://www.rian.ru/culture/20110319/355639249.html