The exhibition, presented across the Accademia Ligustica di Belle Arti and the Church of Santo Stefano in Genoa (Italy), contextualises the altarpiece within the broader narrative of the work’s conception and recent studies over its composition and influence. The commission of The Stoning of Saint Stephen as an altarpiece for the Church of Santo Stefano was originally intended for Raphael, but was instead entrusted to Giulio Romano, who inherited the artist’s workshop his premature death in 1520.
The monumental oil on panel painting (288 × 403 cm) has remained in the Church of Santo Stefano since its creation and could not be relocated due to conservation considerations. The Accademia Ligustica requested a full-scale colour reproduction of the panel, and Factum used high-resolution photographs by Paolo Triolo, art historian and multispectral diagnostician at the University of Genoa, to create a digital file that was printed onto a gesso-primed canvas, stretched on a frame and varnished.
Within the exhibition context, Factum’s colour print of The Stoning of Saint Stephen functions as a key dialogue point between the cartoon (on loan from the Vatican Museums), the preparatory drawings (including an exceptional sheet from the Royal Collection at Windsor), and recent multispectral imaging studies that reveal underlying compositional elements.
Collectively, these works provide unprecedented insight into Giulio Romano’s creative methodology and the creation of one of Genoa’s most significant Renaissance commissions.
The print in Factum Foundation’s studio © Factum Foundation
Varnishing the print © Factum Foundation
