Page 29 - ARUBA TODAY

A29
PEOPLE & ARTS Friday 6 March 2020
Raphael fever hits Italy but art isn't immune from virus

By FRANCES D'EMILIO finger on her right hand
Associated Press appears to point to an slim
ROME (AP) — The paintings, armband on her bare arm
drawings, tapestries and with the artist's name. Near-
sketches in the most ambi- by is "Portrait of a woman
tious exhibition of Renais- called 'La Velata,'" or the
sance superstar Raphael's veiled woman.
works are collectively in- When Italy's COVID-19 out-
sured for 4 billion euros break surfaced last month,
($4.4 billion) against theft, more than 70,000 tickets
vandalism or other dam- had already been sold for
ages. the "Raffaello" exhibit.
But no money can guaran- Organizers on Wednesday
tee that Italy's outbreak of said "the number of visitors
coronavirus, the largest in accessing the halls will be
Europe, won't play havoc controlled" to dilute the risks
with the three-month run in of any visitors transmitting
Rome of this year's eagerly- the new coronavirus.
awaited art blockbuster. But if "Raffaello" was forced
Nervousness was palpable to temporarily close its
at a preview Wednesday doors or slash entrance
that the Italian govern- numbers, it's be highly un-
ment's increasingly restric- likely that it could be ex-
tive measures aimed at tended. While the Uffizi has
containing the outbreak Visitors take photos of Raphael's painting Virgin with Child and Infant St. John the Baptist, at a press so many Raphael works it
might prematurely shut preview of Raphael's exhibition in Rome, Wednesday, March 4, 2020. could lend 40 and still keep
down the "Raffaello" exhibi- Associated Press its Raphael room open
tion, which is being mount- in the Florence museum,
ed to mark the 500th anni- distance between people ficult, if not impossible." Raphael's celebrated por- other lending institutions,
versary of his death. in public places would be But, Schmidt added, traits have inspired count- among them the Prado,
The project brings together respected to reduce risks of switching to Raphael's Ital- less musings about the the Louvre, the National
120 works by Raphael, in- any contagion and hand ian name " if anyone came women who posed for a Gallery in London and the
cluding from collections sanitizers were affixed to close to do it, that was Raf- painter known for his lively National Gallery of Art in
ranging from those of exhibit walls. faello." love life. Washington, D.C., would
Queen Elizabeth II to some He was interviewed in front Drawings, with ink or red or One, informally known as be reluctant to deprive
of the world's most pres- of one of the show's top black chalk, provide ample "Fornarina,'' or the baker's for more weeks their own
tigious museums. Entitled draws, "Portrait of Pope examples of Raphael's suc- daughter, was said to be visitors of an opportunity to
"Raffaello 1520-1483," the Leone X." The painting un- cess in infusing human fig- his mistress and was paint- view their Raphael works in
exhibition opens Thursday derwent a painstaking, ures with emotion. Two of ed in his last year of life. A their own collections.q
in the Scuderie del Quirina- three-year-restoration that
le, an 18th-century former enhanced the rich hues of Kim Kardashian West, former
stables converted into an the scarlet cap and cape
elegant palazzo. of the pontiff, one of Ra-
There was reason to be phael's patrons, and the prisoners visit White House
nervous. I taly closed all cardinal-red robes of two
schools and universities cardinals. So exquisite is
Wednesday and barred Raphael's detailing that WASHINGTON (AP) — victed on felony drug and pass a broader criminal
fans from all sporting events a silver bell near the pon- Kim Kardashian West vis- money laundering charg- justice fix, but Republican
for nearly the next month tiff's left hand looks like you ited the White House on es in 1996. Johnson was re- lawmakers resisted. Trump
to try to tamp down the could pick it up and ring it. Wednesday along with leased from prison in June was able to get more Re-
deadliest coronavirus out- Pausing in front of Rapha- three women who had 2018 after Kardashian publicans in the Senate to
break outside of China. So el's creations – including their sentences commut- West asked Trump to grant vote for a criminal justice
far, over 3,000 people have preparatory sketches as ed by President Donald her clemency. bill that gave judges more
been infected in Italy and breathtakingly beautiful as Trump last month, allow- Johnson said the presi- discretion when sentenc-
107 of them have died. the paintings that ensued – ing them early release dent had asked her for a ing some drug offenders
On April 6, 1520, at the viewers feel caught in the from federal prison. list of other women who and boosted prisoner re-
height of a brilliant career gaze of the artists' subjects. Kardashian West tweeted deserved clemency. habilitation efforts. Trump
as a painter and architect Schmidt noted that while that she and the women Johnson, Hall and Munoz has been citing the bill in
in Rome, Raphael suc- Michelangelo was "con- planned to "discuss more had all had commutation his efforts to win support
cumbed, on his 37th birth- stantly interested in the change that our jus- requests denied by then- from more African Ameri-
day, to eight days of fever anatomy of the human tice system desperately President Barack Obama. can voters. Ivanka Trump
and was buried in Rome's body," and Leonardo da needs!" Obama undertook an tweeted a photo of her-
Pantheon. Vinci was "principally in- The three women — unprecedented effort to self and husband Jared
Some 40 of the paintings terested in the scientific Tynice Nichole Hall, Crys- reduce the sentences of Kushner with the women
and sketches come from analysis of the world," Ra- tal Munoz and Judith Ne- nonviolent federal drug during Wednesday's visit,
the Uffizi Galleries in Flor- phael's interest "was really gron — were nonviolent offenders during his presi- saying "these 3 mothers
ence, whose director, Eike the psychology of his sitters" federal offenders serving dency, releasing 1,715 were granted clemency
Schmidt, sought to tamp for portraits. Raphael was long sentences. All had prisoners, more than any by @realDonaldTrump last
down apprehension about intent on exploring "how their cases championed other president in history. month and are already us-
viewing the show. He can you express a human by Alice Johnson, a Ten- Obama repeatedly ing their second chance
stressed that the recom- character, a soul, through nessee grandmother con- called on Congress to to pay it forward!"q
mended one-meter (yard) painting, which is very dif-