Catalogue entry

Display

The work must be mounted at the centre of an empty wall, at the viewer's eye level (160 cm from the ground). It must be slightly detached from the wall by a few millimeters, with adhesive spacers on the back to avoid a flattening effect.

Description

Raphael Urbinas MDIIII is the "life-size reproduction of the light in the portal of the temple painted by Raphael in The Marriage of the Virgin".1
The title, which refers to the signature and date (1504) of Raphael's painting, states the authenticity of this reproduction in a scale of 1:1 of the detail that, on its part, in the virtual dimension of the pictorial representation, represents an incommensurable entity.
The work is part of a group of works consisting of a detail from an Old Master painting, which is enlarged so that it matches the natural size of the subject (GPO-0153, GPO-0155, GPO-0156, GPO-0157). Attention is turned towards a "certain type of image that is not presented for what it is culturally, but, along with this, for something more complete, more relative to the image itself”.2 “The reference, the overlapping in time and in space of the images in their mental relationships with vision are left to a perspective that it is up to the viewer to determine”,3 Paolini says.

1 G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. 2121969, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Galleria De Nieubourg, 1969, n. pag.
2 G. Paolini in C. Lonzi, Autoritratto (Bari: De Donato Editore, 1969), p. 327, reprint (Milan: Et al./Edizioni, 2010), p. 250, English edition (Brussels-London: Divided Publishing, 2021), p. 287.
3 G. Paolini interviewed by M. Bandini, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini, 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 378.

Sources

Raffaello Sanzio, Lo sposalizio della Vergine, 1504, oil on wood, 170 x 117 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan.

Exhibitions

1968	Palermo, Revort 2, VI Settimana Internazionale di Palermo, 27-31 December, no catalogue.
1969	Milan, Galleria De Nieubourg, Giulio Paolini. 2121969, from 21 February, repr.
1969	Venice, Galleria del Leone, Giulio Paolini, from 3 September.
1971	Dortmund, Museum am Ostwall, Elf Italiener Heute, 28 February - 18 April, repr. p. 46 (rotated by 180 degrees).
1981	Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Linee della ricerca artistica in Italia 1960-1980, 14 February - 15 April, cat. no. 218, repr. p. 176.
1988	Verona, Studio La Città, 20 anni fa. 1968, from 28 April, touring to: Rome, Studio d'Arte Contemporanea Giuliana De Crescenzo, from 12 November, repr. n. pag.

Artist’ writings

•	G. Paolini in Giulio Paolini. 2121969, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Galleria De Nieubourg, 1969; republished in Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), p. 221.
•	G. Paolini in conversation with C. Lonzi, in C. Lonzi, Autoritratto (Bari: De Donato Editore, 1969), p. 327; in the reprint (Milan: Et al./Edizioni, 2010), p. 250; English edition (Brussels-London: Divided Publiishing, 2021), p. 320.
•	G. Paolini in the interview with M. Bandini, in Prospects. Note d’arte contemporanea redatte da Luciano Inga-Pin 1 (Milan), March-April, 1972, n. pag.; republished in Giulio Paolini, 1960-1972, op. cit. (Milan: 2003), p. 378.

Bibliography

•	G. Dorfles, "Revort 2", in Collage 8 (Palermo), December, 1968, repr. p. 71.
•	G. Celant, Arte Povera (Milan: Gabriele Mazzotta Editore, 1969), p. 11, repr. p. 150; in the English editions: Art Povera (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1969) and Arte Povera. Conceptual Actual or Impossible Art? (London: Studio Vista, 1969), p. 9, repr. p. 150.
•	T. Catalano, "Giulio Paolini 1960-1968: il sillogismo dell’immagine", in Flash Art 12 (Rome), [October], 1969, p. 4, not repr.
•	N. Ponente, in Arte e Critica 70, exhibition catalogue, Modena, Galleria della Sala di Cultura, 1970, n. pag., repr.
•	Information, exhibition catalogue, New York, The Museum of Modern Art, 1971, repr. p. 108.
•	G. Celant, Giulio Paolini (New York: Sonnabend Press, 1972), repr. no. 72 p. 77; reprint (Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2019).
•	M. Fagiolo, "Glossario", in Giulio Paolini (Parma: Università di Parma, Centro Studi e Archivio della Comunicazione, 1976), p. 22, repr. no. 105.
•	Del Arte Povera a 1985, exhibition catalogue, Madrid, Palacio de Cristal, Palacio de Velázquez, Parque del Retiro, 1985, repr. n. pag.
•	S. Vertone, "Non tutto qui", in Giulio Paolini. "Tutto qui", exhibition catalogue, Ravenna, Pinacoteca Comunale, Loggetta Lombardesca (Ravenna: Agenzia Editoriale Essegi, 1985), p. 33, repr. no. 14.
•	G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storie e protagonisti / Art Povera. Histories and protagonists (Milan: Electa, 1985), repr. p. 146; idem in the reprint included in G. Celant, Arte Povera. Storia e storie (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011).
•	G. Celant, The Knot Arte Povera (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1985), repr. p. 224; Italian edition: Arte Povera (Turin: Umberto Allemandi & C., 1989), repr. p. 230; French edition: Arte Povera (Villeurbanne: Art ƒdition, 1989), repr. p. 238.
•	M. Scholz-Hänsel, "Das imaginäre Museum Giulio Paolinis", in Giulio Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, 1986, vol. 2, p. 10, not repr.
•	B. Corà, "I contemporanei a Raffaello", in A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu 8, no. 19, January, 1987, col. repr. p. 171.
•	B. Corà, "Giulio Paolini: ‘Signore e Signori...’", in Giulio Paolini. Signore e Signori... Un’opera di Giulio Paolini al Museo di Capodimonte, exhibition catalogue, Naples, Museo di Capodimonte (Naples: Electa, 1988), p. 14, repr.
•	G. Joppolo, Arte povera. Actualité des arts plastiques 76 (Paris: Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique, 1988), p. 51, the booklet includes a slide.
•	R. Deidier, "La lingua della visione: Calvino e Giulio Paolini", in Id., Le forme del tempo. Saggio su Italo Calvino (Milan: Guerini Studio, 1995), p. 160, not repr.; republished in Id., Le forme del tempo. Miti, fiabe, immagini di Italo Calvino (Palermo: Sellerio editore, 2004), pp. 135-136, not repr.
•	G. Paolini, La verità in quattro righe e novantacinque voci, edited by S. Risaliti (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1996), repr. as a faded background image to the entry for "Reproduction", p. 161.
•	C. Christov-Bakargiev, Arte Povera (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1999), p. 133, repr.
•	E. Grazioli, "Dalla pittura e fotografia all’immagine", in L’immagine ritrovata. Pittura e fotografia dagli anni ottanta a oggi, exhibition catalogue, Lugano, Museo Cantonale d’Arte (Ostfildern-Ruit: Cantz Verlag, 2002), pp. 20-21, not repr.
•	Giulio Paolini 1960-1972, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2003), repr. p. 221.
•	G. Paolini, Quattro passi. Nel museo senza muse (Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 2006), repr. p. 64.
•	M. Disch, Giulio Paolini. Catalogo ragionato 1960-1999, vol. 1 (Milan: Skira editore, 2008), cat. no. 157 p. 177, col. repr.
•	R. Ferrario, Giulio Paolini. Un viaggio a distanza (Busto Arsizio: Nomos Edizioni, 2009), repr. p. 90.
•	R. Perna, In forma di fotografia. Ricerche artistiche in Italia dal 1960 al 1970 (Rome: Derive Approdi, 2009), pp. 126-127, not repr. (erroneously cited in the checklist of exhibited works in the exhibition titled "Information").
•	M. Dantini, "Ytalya subjecta. Narrazioni identitarie e critica d'arte 1963-2009", in Il confine evanescente. Arte italiana 1960-2010, edited by G. Guercio and A. Mattirolo (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2010), p. 288, repr. p. 289.
•	P. Monti, P'io Gino (Milan: Giancarlo Politi Editore, 2010), repr. p. 21 (exhibition view Macerata, ArteStudio, n.d.).
•	G. Paolini, Dall'Atlante al Vuoto in ordine alfabetico, edited by S. Risaliti (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2010), col. repr. p. 117 (rotated by 180 degrees, with shadow recreated for the occasion).
•	F. Pola, "Media immateriali per materializzare il tutto. Fotografia e film nell'Arte Povera", in Arte povera 2011, edited by G. Celant (Milan: Mondadori Electa, 2011), p. 604, not repr.
•	M. Dantini, "Giulio Paolini. Raphael Urbinas MDIII [sic]", in Arteviva 3. Dal Neoclassicismo ai nostri giorni, edited by G. Fossi (Florence: Giunti editori, 2012), p. 440, col. repr.; republished in Id., Geopolitiche dell'arte (Milan: Christian Marinotti Edizioni, 2012), pp. 113-115, repr. p. 115, and in Arteviva 5. Dal Neoimpressionismo ai nostri giorni, edited by G. Fossi (Florence: Giunti TVP editori, 2013), p. 312, col. repr.
•	B. Corà, "Arte torna arte", in Arte torna arte, exhibition catalogue, Florence, Galleria dell'Accademia (Florence: Giunti Editore, 2012), pp. 30-31, col. repr. p. 32.
•	Brera in contemporaneo. Fabro, Garutti, Kounellis, Paolini, exhibition catalogue, Milan, Pinacoteca di Brera (Milan: Johan & Levi editore, 2015), col. repr. p. 215.
•	F. Pola, "L’immagine mediata", in Imagine. Nuove immagini nell’arte italiana 1960-1969, exhibition catalogue, Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice: Marsilio Editori, 2016), p. 195, not repr.
•	D. Soutif, "Filigrane. Paolini, il primo quadro e la storia dell’arte", in S. Bann et al., Il passato al presente. In tema 2 (Turin-Mantua: Fondazione Giulio e Anna Paolini and Corraini Edizioni, 2016), pp. 108-117, col. repr. p. 113; republished in French in Les Cahiers du Musée national d’art moderne 137, Autumn, 2016, pp. 86, 89, repr. p. 86.
•	G. Di Pietrantonio, "Eco di eco di Raffaello", in Raffaello e l’eco del mito, exhibition catalogue, Bergamo, Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Venice: Marsilio Edizioni, 2018), pp. 113, 121, col. repr. p. 112.
•	C. Zambianchi, “Antichi maestri: Giulio Paolini e l’arte del passato”, in In Arcadia. Saggi di storia delle arti per Elisa Debenedetti, edited by M. Bevilacqua, M. C. Cola and M. Tabarini (Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 2024), p. 185, not repr.
•	E. Ranocchi, Ecfrasi di un’estasi. La Santa Cecilia di Raffaello descritta da Antonio Malczewski (Alessandria: Edizioni dell’Orso, 2024), col. repr. on cover and on dust jacket.

Raphael Urbinas MDIIII, 1968