PAINTING IN STORAGE FOR DECADES MAY BE A RAPHAEL

A FINELY PAINTED PORTRAIT OF A DEMURELY LOOKING WOMAN NESTLED IN AN EXCEPTIONALLY ORNATE FRAME THAT WAS KEPT IN AN ITALIAN DUCAL PALACE STOREROOM APPEARS TO BE A RAPHAEL ORIGINAL AND NOT A COPY AS LONG THOUGHT, AN ART OFFICIAL IN CENTRAL ITALY SAID FRIDAY. HOWEVER, EXPERTS ON THE RENAISSANCE GIANT QUICKLY CAUTIONED THAT ART HISTORIANS WOULD HAVE TO CLOSELY STUDY IT BEFORE ANY CONCLUSIONS CAN BE MADE. MARIO SCALINI, STATE SUPERINTENDENT FOR ART IN MODENA AND NEARBY TOWNS, SAID HE WAS DOING INVENTORY OF ABOUT 20,000 PAINTINGS IN STOREROOMS AFTER HE WAS NAMED TO THE POST A FEW YEARS AGO HE WAS STRUCK BY THE UNUSUALLY FANCY, GILDED 17th CENTURY FRAME IN THE PALACE IN SASSUOLO, NEAR MODENA. IT SURROUNDED A PORTRAIT OF A LADY, HAIR BRAIDED, HEAD TILTED TO ONE SIDE AND EYES DEMURLEY LOOKING DOWNWARD, AS IF THE PORTRAIT-SITTER WANTED TO AVOID THE GAZE OF THE ARTIST. THE WORK WAS LONG CONSIDERED TO BE A COPY OF THE HEAD OF ONE OF THE SUBJECTS IN THE MUCH LARGER 'MADONNA DELLA PERLA' IN MADRID'S PRADO MUSEUM, SCALINI SAID. THE PRADO WORK IS CONSIDERED TO HAVE BEEN PAINTED BY GIULIO ROMANO FROM THE DESIGN OF RAPHAEL NOT LONG BEFORE HE DIED IN 1520. BUT SCALINI SAID IN A RECENT INTERVIEW THAT HE WONDERED WHY A COPY WOULD BE GIVEN SUCH AN ELABORATE FRAME. HE SAID A HUNCH THAT IT MIGHT BE A RAPHAEL WAS HEIGHTENED WHEN HE FOUND CENTURIES-OLD INVENTORY NOTATIONS INDICATING THE COLLECTION CONTAINED A WOMAN'S PORTRAIT BY RAPHAEL. THE DOCUMENTATION CONTAINED NO INDICATION THE RAPHAEL WORK MIGHT HAVE BEEN LATER SOLD OR OTHERWISE TRANSFERRED, HE SAID. 'IT HAD OBVIOUSLY BEEN FORGOTTEN' AND SAT IN THE STOREROOM FOR DECADES, HE ADDED. THE ART OFFICIAL SENT THE 12 BY 16 INCH WORK TO A LABORATORY IN FLORENCE, WHERE ONE OF THE EXPERTS WHO RAN SCIENTIFIC TESTS ON THE PAINTING, ANNA PELAGOTTI, SAID INFRARED TESTING REVEALED THREE LAYERS UNDERNEATH, INCLUDING A PREPARATORY DESIGN. 'IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL SENSATION, OUR MOUTHS DROPPED OPEN', SAID PELAGOTTI, DESCRIBING THE REACTION SHE AND HER FELLOW EXPERTS HAD WHEN THEY SAW THE SKETCH. 'IT LOOKED MORE RAPHAEL' THAN ONE COULD IMAGINE, PELAGOTTI MARVELED, ADDING, 'YOU COULD SEE HIS HAND' IN THE FINELY DETAILED SKETCH. SCALINI SAID HE HOPES DURING A VISIT TO MADRID THAT HE CAN PERSUADE THE PRADO TO LEND 'MADONNA DELLA PERLA', SO ART HISTORIANS CAN STUDY THE TWO WORKS SIDE BY SIDE TO HELP CONCLUDE IF THE LONG LANGUISHING PAINTING IS REALLY A RAPHAEL.