Exhibitions

Exhibitions

The Ugo da Carpi altarpiece

From 25 February until 16 May 2023, the altarpiece by Ugo da Carpi, with Veronica unfolding the veil of the Holy Face between Apostles Peter and Paul, was on display at the Museum of Saint Peter’s Basilica. The exhibition, which had already had a previous edition in Turin, was open to the public in the exhibition spaces of the Vatican sacristy every day during the opening hours of the Basilica. “It was a small exhibition, but of great importance for faith and art”, explained Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of the Vatican Basilica, “which we wanted to present during this time of Lent to offer pilgrims and visitors an opportunity for reflection and encounter: the image of the relic of the Holy Face kept in Saint Peter’s is, in fact, an invitation to prayer and a strong reminder of the Vatican Basilica, a place of welcome for the women and men who come from all over the world to the tomb of the Apostle Peter”.

At the centre of the Vatican exhibition is the panel painting by Ugo da Carpi, produced on the eve of the 1525 Jubilee for the Altar of the Holy Face in the ancient basilica: an altarpiece “made without a paintbrush”, as the painter wrote next to his signature, and as reported by Giorgio Vasari, who saw it along with Michelangelo.

Through a series of explanatory panels, the visitor can understand, in this exhibition, the extraordinary relevance of this artwork, which we see in a greatly altered state due to its troubled conservation history over the course of almost five centuries. Therefore, the sixteenth-century panel is displayed next to a life-size “study copy” in which the now-lost colours and original chiaroscuro have been recreated. An “eloquent” copy produced with the support of the Turin Museums Foundation by Professor Lorenza D’Alessandro for the exhibition in Turin and shared with Saint Peter’s Basilica on the occasion of this exhibition.

The Civic Museum of Ancient Art of Palazzo Madama also provided the exhibition panels describing the altarpiece of the Holy Face and narrating its history, production technique, state of conservation and the important diagnostic procedures carried out in collaboration with the Vatican Museums Scientific Research Laboratories.

The Crowned Madonnas

From 31 May, Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on 7 October, memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary, an exhibition of paintings of “Crowned Madonnas” of various ages and origins has been displayed in the Treasury Museum of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

These are faithful pictorial reproductions of Marian images (statues, reliefs, mosaics, wall and canvas paintings), which were granted the privilege of a solemn coronation by the Chapter of Saint Peter’s, according to established procedures and a ceremonial that remained in place for almost four centuries. In this first Vatican exhibition, curated by Pietro Zander, fifteen oil paintings on canvas from fifteen different dioceses in Italy are presented. Subsequent exhibitions will be followed by a rotation with other paintings from other dioceses in Italy, Europe and the world.

During the time of the exhibition, which recounts the profound devotion of these communities to the Mother of the Lord, Saint Peter's Basilica will welcome visits and initiatives from the dioceses of origin of the paintings, facilitating celebrations and special prayer and cultural gatherings.