The work “The Deesis and Saints Paul and Catherine,” initially considered a masterpiece by Raphael, was attributed to Giulio Romano in the first half of the 19th century. Its symmetrical structure, balanced composition, and measured proportions of the figures suggest it was dated around 1520. Alongside the clear classicist approach, there is a certain theatricality in the color scheme and a desire for a more direct connection with the viewer. These elements, along with the descriptive attention focused on detail, would become the artist’s signature style.
Having become part of the collections of the Pilotta Monumental Complex in 1816, the panel is thought to have originally been located in the Benedictine convent of San Paolo. Supporting this theory are the two saints in the foreground: Saint Paul, after whom the monastery was named, and Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with the cogwheel of her martyrdom, a cult deeply held by the nuns.
From March 29 to June 28, 2026, the work will be on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as part of the exhibition Raphael: Sublime Poetry, the first major retrospective dedicated to Raphael in the United States. Underscoring the breadth of his genius, the exhibition brings together important drawings, paintings, and tapestries from public and private collections throughout Europe and the United States, many of which have never been exhibited together before.
Gallery
Dive into the artistic process of one of history’s most beloved and influential artists. A true titan of the Italian Renaissance, Raffaello di Giovanni Santi (1483–1520)—better known as Raphael—matched ambition with lyricism to create works with both intellectual heft and emotional depth, a necessary skill in the complex political landscape of Renaissance courts. In his short life of only 37 years, he achieved such profound success as a painter, designer, and architect that he was regarded as the pinnacle of artistic perfection for centuries after his death.
Raphael: Sublime Poetry is the first comprehensive exhibition on Raphael in the United States, bringing together more than 170 of the artist’s greatest masterpieces and rarely seen treasures to illuminate the brilliance of Raphael’s extraordinary creativity. The son of a painter and poet, Raphael engaged with the foremost writers and thinkers of his age in Rome, displaying a poetic sensibility that captivated his peers and generations that followed. Follow the full breadth of his life and career, from his origins in Urbino to his rise in Florence, where he began to emerge as a peer of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, to his final, prolific decade at the papal court in Rome.
To underscore the range of his genius, this presentation brings together important drawings, paintings, and tapestries from public and private collections across Europe and the United States, many of which have never been shown together. With particular attention to Raphael’s portrayal of women—from his use of nude female models for the first time in Western art to his tender depictions of the Madonna and Child—and recent scientific discoveries made using state-of-the-art technology, this exhibition offers a rare opportunity to experience the genius of an artist who helped shape the course of art history.
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