Raphael and the Colours of the Antique in the Villa Farnesina

On March 23, 2026, the Italian Cultural Institute of New York will inaugurate the exhibition “Raphael and the Colors of the Antique in the Villa Farnesina,” organized by the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei. The initiative is presented in conjunction with the exhibition “Raphael: Sublime Poetry,” curated by Carmen Bambach and on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from March 29 to June 28, 2026.

“With this exhibition, the Italian Cultural Institute in New York,” states Director Claudio Pagliara, “intends, in agreement with the MET, to contribute to enhancing international awareness of Raphael among the global public visiting New York. The project exemplifies our mission to foster close cooperation with the leading cultural institutions of both Italy and this metropolis.”

“The exhibition introduces the frescoes of Villa Farnesina,” explains Roberto Antonelli, President of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei, “today the institutional seat and museum of the Accademia, but in the sixteenth century the suburban residence of the Sienese banker Agostino Chigi, known as ‘the Magnificent.’ It focuses on the study of the pigments employed in the so-called Raphaelesque loggias—the Loggia of Galatea and the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche—within the framework of a decade-long research program coordinated by the late Lincean member Antonio Sgamellotti at the Lincean Centre for Research on Cultural Heritage at Villa Farnesina (CERIF).”

Particular attention is devoted to the Loggia of Cupid and Psyche and the richness of its iconographic program. Executed by Raphael and his workshop, the loggia is adorned with festoons of plants and fruits from all the continents known at the time, forming an extraordinary botanical and artistic compendium that includes more than 170 species—fruits, flowers, roots, stems, bulbs, leaves, and even mushrooms. Especially remarkable is the presence of American species depicted only about twenty years after the discovery of the New World.

The exhibition also presents the results of a campaign of non-invasive diagnostic investigations—including XRF, IR, and IRFC imaging analyses—conducted in situ and integrated with those carried out during the last conservation intervention by the ISCR (Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro) in the 1990s. These studies have provided new insights into Raphael’s workshop practices and the materials used in the decoration.

An interactive system allows visitors to explore a “Digital Loggia,” navigating the painted pergola in detail and identifying the more than 170 botanical species represented in the festoons. The interface also reveals pictorial details that are difficult to observe in situ, given the height of the vault (about eight meters), and integrates botanical and iconographic information with the results of the imaging analyses.

Alongside a 3D reconstruction of Villa Farnesina, the exhibition features two videos: one illustrating the geographic origins of the “New World fruits” represented in the frescoes, and another devoted to the gardens of Villa Farnesina, where the painted festoons create a striking illusion of continuity with the surrounding landscape. These materials are presented together with facsimiles from the Library of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and Corsiniana—including Federico Cesi’s Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus and Vitruvius’ De Architectura—which contextualize the artistic and scientific culture surrounding Raphael’s workshop.