Stanza del Liocorno, 1986-05
GPO-0907
Room of the Unicorn
Oil-painted canvas, plexiglas case, crystal sphere
70 x 52 x 52 cm
Private collection, Naples
The plexiglas case topped by a crystal ball features a painted canvas representing the background of Raphael’s Dama del Liocorno (1505-07).
The empty “room”, distinguished by the uninhabited backdrop, emphasizes the absence of the subject: as an empty stage awaiting the performance, the work offers the scenic layout of a potential painting. The crystal ball, an emblem of perfection and fulfilment, announces the ideal subject from off-stage.
The work harkens back to three variants with the same title made between 1986 and 1987 (GPO-0583, GPO-0584, GPO-0590), which are distinguished by the different object that each time is related to the framing of the sixteenth-century arcade.
Raffaello Sanzio, Dama con Liocorno, 1505-07, canvas mounted on wood, 67 x 56 cm, Galleria Borghese, Rome.
| 2006 | Bergamo, GAMeC Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Giulio Paolini. Fuori programma, 6 April - 16 July, col. repr. pp. 57 and 50-51 (exhibition view). |
