The Preliminary Cartoon for Raphael’s ‘School of Athens’

A talk by Monsignor Dr Alberto Rocca Join Alberto Rocca, Director of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana for a rare journey into the drawing that preserves, line by line, the creative mind of Raphael. Five hundred years ago, Raphael drew at full scale the great thinkers of antiquity for the fresco he was about to paint in the Vatican for Pope Julius II, the work later known as ‘The School of Athens’. Saved by an ingenious device from the pricking that would have consumed it, this fragile sheet has crossed the centuries: acquired by Cardinal Federico Borromeo for the Ambrosiana in Milan, seized by Napoleon and carried to Paris, sheltered during two World Wars, and now restored after years of meticulous care. Its history reads like an adventure; its meaning, like a revelation. Around Plato and Aristotle, Pythagoras and Diogenes, Raphael unfolds a vision in which ancient wisdom prepares humanity for a higher truth, at the heart of a room conceived as a complete map of human knowledge. This talk is presented with the support of the Consulate General of Italy in Sydney. About our Speaker: Monsignor Dr Alberto Rocca is an Italian theologian, historian, and ecclesiastical figure who serves as the Director of the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy. As well as bing the current director of the Pinacoteca Mon. Dr Rocca is also the Director of the Classe di Studi Borromaici at the Accademia Ambrosiana. His research further focuses on early modern history and the English theologian and philosopher Richard Hooker. He is the author of L’ideale politico-religioso di Richard Hooker: supremazia regia ed ecclesiastical dominion (Bulzoni 2010), and the guide to the Gallery co-authored with Marco Navoni, The Pinacoteca Ambrosiana (De Agostini, 2013). Alberto Rocca has been a Fellow of the Venerable Ambrosian Library (Dottore della VBA) of Milan since September 1, 2008. He notably served as the project head and overseer for the massive, four-year restoration of Raphael’s immaculate preparatory cartoon for ‘The School of Athens’, which is housed in a hall specifically designed to display it. He also co-organised the internationally travelling Da Vinci: Shaping the Future exhibition. Founded in April 1618, the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana is a treasure trove of unique masterpieces and a meeting place for art, culture, and beauty. It was created as a result of the vision of Cardinal Federico Borromeo, who donated his precious collection of paintings, sculptures, and drawings to the Biblioteca Ambrosiana— which he had established in 1607.