Vasari and Rome: a major exhibition at the Capitoline Museums

Vasari and Rome at the Capitoline Museums

The Capitoline Museums, in Palazzo Caffarelli, present the exhibition "Vasari and Rome", dedicated to the relationship between Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) and the Eternal City. The show highlights how Rome became a creative workshop and a decisive stage in Vasari’s career as a painter, architect and art historian.

What the exhibition offers

The display brings together a wide range of works and documents — drawings, paintings, sculptures, prints, letters and medals — tracing the artist’s development. Highlights include early works, major late pieces, autograph material and loans from leading national and international institutions that illustrate Vasari’s engagement with antiquity and major Renaissance models.

Exhibition sections (overview)

• Early Roman stays: study from classical sources and Raphael’s influence (1532–1538).
• At the court of Alessandro Farnese: large-scale projects and foreign artists (1542–1546).
• The making of the Vite: Vasari as biographer, relations with Michelangelo and papal commissions (1550–1555).
• In the Vatican: chapels and ceremonial halls, late decorations and papal honors (1570–1572).

Works and loans

More than seventy works are on display, including paintings, drawings and archival material. Notable pieces include the Resurrection with Raffaellino del Colle, the Nativity ("Notte di Camaldoli"), the Agony in the Garden and an Annunciation formerly in the Chapel of St Michael in the Vatican. Prestigious loans help reconstruct the networks of patronage and artistic exchange of the sixteenth century.

Curatorship and organizers

The exhibition is curated by Alessandra Baroni, with a catalogue published by Gangemi. Promoters and organizers include Rome City Council, the Capitoline Superintendency for Cultural Heritage, MetaMorfosi Eventi and Zètema Progetto Cultura.

Who should attend

• Renaissance and art history enthusiasts.
• Researchers focused on primary biographical and documentary sources of the sixteenth century.
• General audiences interested in Rome’s role in shaping artistic careers.

Practical information

The exhibition takes place at the Capitoline Museums in Palazzo Caffarelli. For opening times, ticketing and guided visits, check the official Capitoline Museums website or the communications channels of Rome City Council.