Visitors to Rome can look out for the red rose laid on Raphael's tomb in the Pantheon during 2020, the 500th anniversary of the death of the great Renaissance artist. Each day this year, representatives of the Italian Cultural Ministry will pay a floral tribute to the Divine Painter, who died prematurely at the age of thirty-seven. Raphael died in Rome on the 6th April 1520. He expressly wished to be buried in the Pantheon, (the collective Temple of the pagan Roman gods) which had been converted into a Christian church in the 7th century with the name of St. Mary of the Martyrs. It was a fairly unusual choice for the time and long before it became the last resting place of the 19th - 20th century Italian kings. His tomb is on the left-hand wall under Lorenzo Lotto's statue of the Madonna del Sasso. The inscription in Latin reads: Here lies Raphael, he who while in life made Nature fear being conquered and in death (made Nature) fear to die as well. There will be many events and exhibitions all over Italy to honour the quincentenary, including an important exhibition at the Scuderie del Quirinale Palace, Rome, from March 2020, where many Raphael masterpieces lent by leading world museums like the Uffizi, the Vatican, the Louvre and the National Gallery of London will be on show. Further details to come.
Info:
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