Baldassarre Castiglione and Raphael. Urbino's Ducal Palace celebrates the author of The Courtier and the great artist

The Sale del Castellare in the Ducal Palace in Urbino will host the exhibition Baldassarre Castiglione and Raphael from July 19 to November 1, 2020. Faces and Moments of Court Civilization, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi and Elisabetta Soletti.

A project that is part of the celebrations of the five hundredth anniversary of Raphael’s death, promoted by the National Committee, the Marche Region and the City of Urbino.

On this occasion, the story of one of the central figures of the Renaissance, Baldassarre Castiglione (Casatico, 1478 - Toledo, 1529), the humanist and man of letters known for The Courtier, the work that provided the model of behavior for the high society of Europe, will be told.

However, it would be reductive to present the figure of Castiglione solely as the author of the Cortegiano: the exhibition aims to highlight his personality as a very fine intellectual, close to great artists, especially Raphael, but also to writers, intellectuals, rulers and popes. He was also a careful politician and military man in the service of the State of the Church, the Marquisate of Mantua and the Duchy of Urbino.

The exhibition aims to reconstruct Castiglione’s entire story by contextualizing it alongside figures of his time, such as Guidobaldo da Montefeltro Duke of Urbino, Leo X, the Sforzas, the Gonzagas, Isabella d’Este, Emperor Charles V, artists such as Raphael, Leonardo, Titian, Giulio Romano, and intellectuals such as Pietro Bembo.

The exhibition is divided into seven sections that illustrate with works and multimedia tools the era of Baldassarre Castiglione; also present are clothes for festivals, tournaments and parades, weapons, ancient editions and manuscripts.

“Uniting the names of Raphael and Baldassarre Castiglione,” stresses curator Elisabetta Soletti, "means giving due prominence to the fundamental contribution of the supreme artist and the great writer in the creation of the myth of Urbino and its court in the first decades of the 16th century. Indeed, to both of them we owe the affirmation of the cultural primacy of the Italian Renaissance throughout Europe. Il Cortegiano long represented the ideal model of the values of court civilization, as is documented by the exceptional publishing success of the work, which was translated into all the major national languages, Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, German, and Polish. A success that experienced deep and lasting fortune until the 18th century."

Image: Raphael, Portrait of Baldassarre Castiglione (1516-1519). Reproduced by FACTUM ARTE

Baldassarre Castiglione and Raphael. Urbino's Ducal Palace celebrates the author of The Courtier and the great artist

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