Two Renaissance Shows at Rome's Gallerie Nazionali

Rome's Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica (Palazzo Barberini and Galleria Corsini) present two focused exhibitions reexamining Renaissance painting. The first, curated by Enrico Parlato, centers on Filippo Lippi's Madonna di Tarquinia, discovered in 1917 by Pietro Toesca in Tarquinia's Santa Maria di Valverde church. The 1437 altarpiece, bearing a cartiglio, reshaped Lippi's chronology and his role in Italian Renaissance art. The show includes archival documents (a letter to Bernard Berenson, telegrams to authorities, the original frame's recovery report) and loans from the Frick Collection (Annunciation), Fitzwilliam Museum (Triptych), and Musée Jacquemart-André (Donatello's Spiritello ceroforo). It contextualizes Lippi's transition from Masaccio's influence to elegant, Flemish-inspired domesticity. The second exhibition, curated by Alessandro Cosma, pairs Giovanni da Rimini's early 14th-century panels (from the National Gallery, London, and Palazzo Barberini) with a later work by Giovanni Baronzio, exploring Giotto's impact on Riminese Gothic painting. The London panel, donated by Ronald S. Lauder in 2015, was once part of the Barberini collection, split in the 19th century. Director Flaminia Gennari Sartori frames these as 'study exhibitions' that temporarily reedit the museum's canon, fostering new hypotheses. Visitor numbers have risen 20% amid a broader revitalization strategy including a unified BarberiniCorsini brand and enhanced social media presence.