Le Marche another Italy

One of the largest exhibition of paintings by Renaissance master Raphael every organized outside of Italy will launch a major art and trade initiative with Japan.
The “Italy in Japan 2013″ series, presented by the Embassy of Italy in Tokyo, aims to promote Italian culture, lifestyle, and wine, as well as business, research and innovation. After the program begins on March 1 with the Raphael show,
further exhibitions will present the works of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and other Italian art masters.

Raphael Sanzio (1483-1520) was one of the great painters of the Italian Renaissance. Raphael brought the Renaissance painting style to maturity, creating a model for later painters. Due to the importance and rarity of his works, today it is extremely difficult to organize an exhibition dedicated to his works, even in Europe, the home to the majority of his extant oeuvre. This is the first large-scale Raphael exhibition held outside of Europe.

This exhibition features more than 20 works by Raphael, from examples from his study period that were heavily influenced by Perugino, to his time in Florence when his work was spurred on by contact with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to his later years, after his arrival in Rome in 1508 and his work on the large-scale projects for the Vatican. In particular the exhibition features one of Raphael's most famous images of the Madonna and Child, the "Madonna del Granduca." In combination with the works by Raphael, approximately 60 works by those active around him have been assembled for this exhibition, including prints made after his paintings and decorative art works designed on the basis of his plans. This exhibition will provide a splendid opportunity for visitors to learn about the entirety of Raphael, an artist who exerted a massive influence on all later artistic expression.