Vatican News
“This is an initiative through which the Pope’s Museums renew their contribution to promoting Beauty through the impact of the arts,” emphasizes Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, quoted by Vatican News.
Painting “Il Redentore”
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a small but extremely intriguing painting, titled “The Redeemer” (Il Redentore) by El Greco. The work was created around 1590-1595 and remained almost forgotten for a long time. Housed in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, it once belonged to the collection of the Spanish intellectual José Sánchez de Muniáin, who donated it to Pope Paul VI in 1967.
For years, the painting presented many difficulties for researchers. It was in poor condition, and its surface had been repainted in the past by an unknown forger who merely tried to schematically recreate the original image of Christ. Only recent conservation work carried out in the Painting Conservation Laboratory of the Vatican Museums brought spectacular results. Beneath layers of later interventions, the true compositions, made by El Greco himself, were discovered. Scientific analyses and detailed comparative studies confirmed the authenticity of the work and allowed for the restoration of its original beauty.
Painting: “Saint Francis”
The second protagonist of the exhibition is an early work by the artist: “Saint Francis,” a small tempera on panel, dated around 1570. It was created during El Greco’s stay in Rome, after earlier experiences gained in the Venetian workshops of Titian and Tintoretto. The painting, on loan from the Pagliara Foundation of the Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples, depicts Saint Francis in prayer, with Brother Leo beside him, a figure rarely appearing in the artist’s later works.
The juxtaposition of both paintings allows one to trace the development of El Greco’s style: from early Italian inspirations to a mature vision of Christ, full of spiritual tension.
Not just an exhibition
The inauguration of the exhibition, scheduled for March 14 at 4:00 PM, will be attended by: Sr. Raffaella Petrini, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Dr. Barbara Jatta, Director of the Vatican Museums, Dr. Andrea Tamburelli, Director of the Papal Villas, Prof. Lucio d’Alessandro, Rector of the Suor Orsola Benincasa University in Naples, Fabrizio Biferali, Curator of the Department of 15th-16th Century Art of the Vatican Museums, and Alessandra Zarelli from the Painting and Wooden Materials Conservation Laboratory of the Vatican Museums.
The opening of the exhibition will be accompanied by a concert inaugurating the 2026 season of the “Musica ai Musei” series. The audience will listen to the moving “Stabat Mater” by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, performed by the Orchestra da Camera delle Cento Città and the Eos choir under the direction of Mirco Roverelli.
The exhibition in Castel Gandolfo is not only an encounter with great art but also an invitation to discover a history hidden beneath layers of paint, a history that, after centuries, speaks again to the contemporary viewer.
