With the arrival of one of Raphael’s most beloved portraits comes a special treat. Italian Renaissance writer and courtier Baldasar Castiglione will serve as museum tour guide in a 3d animated resurrection. In a three-year partnership, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and the Louvre in Paris will feature Baldasar Castiglione in a new exhibition called Louvre AtlantaTM. The Louvre will send hundreds of art works to the High Museum in an exhibition that will run from October 2006 through 2009. According to the High’s website, the purpose of the partnership will “trace the history and development of the Louvre from the 17th century through the present. The three exhibitions in year one will focus on the genesis of the royal collection of the pre-Revolutionary Régime—the works collected by the Kings before the Louvre was converted from a palace to a museum during the late 18th century and that make up the heart of the Louvre’s collections.” We wonder if Baldasar Castiglione still has a way with words. It should be interesting.
Brenda Harness, Art Historian