RAFFAELLO 500 Lecture Series: On the Footsteps of the Genius. Raphael and Paolo Veronese

In this talk, Thomas Dalla Costa will highlight and discuss the numerous similarities between Paolo Veronese and Raphael, not only in terms of style and composition, but also in visual eloquence, graphic intelligence, and workshop practice. Raphael (Urbino, 1483-Rome, 1520) is unquestionably one of the most influential artists of all times. His art was vastly acclaimed by his contemporaries for the clarity of his forms, the ease of composition, his delicate handling, his rich and brilliant palette, and his skill in representing an ideal world of grace and perfection. Though he died prematurely, Raphael's example as a paragon of classicism dominated the academic tradition of European painting until the mid-19th century. Paolo Veronese (Verona, 1528-Venice, 1588) was born after Raphael’s death in Verona, a city that was in the Venetian domain. Influenced by the works of Parmigianino, Raphael, and Michelangelo, his early works are elaborately composed, negotiating coequally light and space. Later, the art of Paolo Veronese has become emblematic of the splendours of Renaissance Venice, although one could argue his style is not quintessentially ‘Venetian’. His crowded yet expertly arranged compositions, combine elegant posture, eloquent gesture and classicising architectural backdrops, richness of detail and painterly affluence reminds those ones by Raphael. A talented draftsman, Veronese was often employed as a fresco painter, he occasionally designed architectural compositions, and lead a large and well organised workshop: these traits may suggest an even closer comparison between Veronese and the centre-Italian genius. This event was organized by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura Toronto in collaboration with Istituto Italiano di Cultura Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, San Francisco, & Washington D.C. THOMAS DALLA COSTA Thomas completed his PhD at Verona University in June 2012, with a dissertation on Paolo Veronese and the organisation of his workshop. He has been Fellow of the Dutch Institute of Art History in Florence (NIKI) and of the Fondazione Ermitage Italia in Ferrara. In 2014 he was Assistant Curator for the exhibition Paolo Veronese. L’illusione della realtà (held in Verona, July-October 2014). This post was funded by the Wolfgang Ratjen Foundation (Vaduz, Liechtenstein). In 2015, Thomas was Post-doctoral Researcher at Verona University, with a project on Titian’s series of Venus and Adonis. The outcome of this research has been recently published in “Venere e Adone” di Tiziano: arte, cultura e società tra Venezia e l’Europa (Venice, Marsilio editori, 2019). In September 2016 he was appointed Research Fellow for Save Venice Inc., for which he edited a guide book on Jacopo Tintoretto (Venice, Marsilio editori, 2018). In 2017 Thomas co-curated the exhibition Venezia Rinascimento: Tiziano, Tintoretto, Veronese (Moscow, Pushkin Museum of Art, June-August 2018). He has published a number of articles on Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese and his workshop. He has a strong interest in the artists’ creative process, and the pivotal role of drawings to Venetian Renaissance workshops. Member of the Accademia Roveretana degli Agiati since 2018, in February 2019 Thomas was appointed the Harry M. Weinrebe Curatorial Fellow at the National Gallery, London, where he has recently assisted the Curator of the exhibition Titian. Love, Desire, Death (March 2020-January 2021), for which he has also contributed to the exhibition catalogue.