The fragment of a Renaissance master PIntoricchio's mural painting originally depicting Borgia Pope Alexander VI on his knees before Baby Jesus held by the Virgin Mary that was decorating a private chamber in the Borgia papal apartment at the Vatican, is shown during the exhibition "Pintoricchio. Painter of the Borgias. The mistery of Giulia Farnese revealed." on display at the Capitoline Museums in Rome, Thursday, June 22, 2017. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)
June 22, 2017 - 10:21 AM
ROME - An exhibit in Rome aims to demolish what a former Vatican Museums director calls a "myth" that Renaissance painter Pintoricchio used Pope Alexander VI's lover, Giulia Farnese, as the model for a Madonna he depicted while decorating the pontiff's apartment.
The Capitoline Museums exhibit invites visitors to draw their own conclusion in part by comparing other Madonnas painted by Pintoricchio with surviving sections of the wall painting from the Borgia apartment, including the original Madonna, which hasn't been seen in public for centuries.
Francesco Buranelli, an exhibit curator who for 11 years directed the Vatican Museums which include the Borgia apartment, convinced a private collector to put the Madonna painting on display. He told journalists Thursday it's essentially "fake news" the Madonna was modeled on the lover.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017