Sgarbi visits the “Young Raffaello” exhibition in Città di Castello
On New Year's Eve, the “Young Raffaello” exhibition, held at the Pinacoteca of Città di Castello, welcomes the art critic Vittorio Sgarbi accompanied by the Honorable Riccardo Augusto Marchetti. Also present was Stefano Lazzari from Bottega Tifernate.
The famous art critic, accompanied and welcomed by the councilor for culture Michela Botteghi who brought greetings from the mayor Luca Secondi, enthusiastically admires all the works that were exhibited in Città di Castello in honor of the 500th anniversary of Raphael's death. After underlining the generosity of Italian and foreign museums in lending important drawings, such as the San Nicola da Tolentino Altarpiece and the San Bernardino group of works, he defines the Città di Castello exhibition as an intelligent exhibition which it is a shame has already ended. Sgarbi also defined this initiative as one of the best tributes to the conclusion of the extension of the celebrations of the 500th anniversary of Raphael's death.
The famous art critic, having inquired before visiting the exhibition about the provenance of Raphael's Marriage of the Virgin, now preserved in Brera, admits that he hopes for the work's return to its city of origin. On the other hand – says Sgarbi – Città di Castello was the place where he trained and where he created this first great masterpiece of his. He continues by saying that a political evaluation will be appropriate in the coming years to bring the Sposalizio back here as the restitution of a work taken away by one of Napoleon's generals. Nowadays – says the expert – if it is possible to go to the moon, moving a work can take place in complete safety. He also concludes his speech by saying that it is not possible to consider the moving of a work a desecration.
In the absence of the original Marriage of the Virgin, the Bottega Tifernate is creating an identical reproduction which, once finished, will be donated to the Art Gallery. The visit to Sgarbi's exhibition ends with admiration of the reproduction in progress, as he defined it as a "fine" and high quality work. He also commented that he considered the reproduction of the Bottega Tifernate to be the best of those displayed in the exhibition. Before leaving again, Sgarbi also received a small reproduction of the Marriage of the Virgin from the maestro Stefano Lazzari.