Musei Vaticani, or the Vatican Museums, are having their first exhibition in Korea, presenting some of the best-known pieces of the Renaissance era.

The exhibition, also named “Musei Vaticani,” will be held from Dec. 8 through March 31, 2013, at Hangaram Art Museum of Seoul Arts Center under the theme of “Geniuses of the Renaissance.”

This is the first time the Italian museum group, one of the three largest museums in the world alongside the British Museum and The Louvre, is visiting Korea.

“The collection in the Vatican is so large ― Musei Vaticani consist of 24 galleries and the Sistine Chapel ― that you use the term ‘musei,’ as a plural form instead of ‘museum,’” said Kim Ae-ryoung, program director of the exhibition, at the press conference Monday.

“The exhibited pieces are regarded as the source of many other masterpieces of the following generation. Therefore, looking into the masterpieces produced between 14th and 16th century will be a way of studying the big picture of Western art history,” she added.

The 73 artworks on show include paintings and sculptures of the geniuses of the Renaissance including Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raffaello Sanzio, better known as Raphael. Some items will be replicas, but top-quality ones, artistic enough to deliver the original atmosphere and impression, the organizers said.

“St. Jerome in the Wilderness” by Da Vinci will have its Asian premiere at the exhibition. The painting tells the story of St. Jerome, who refused all the wealth and prosperity on Earth. He is pictured with a lion, which is said to have followed the saint wherever he went after he plucked a thorn from its feet. It is believed to have been painted around 1480, when the master painter was working in Florence.

Raphael’s “Charity,” a predella painted on a wood cut, shows a woman breastfeeding. The piece is a part of Raphael’s series consisting of metaphors on love, hope and belief. Two angels surround the woman and the baby, with one carrying a pot of fire that represents love and the other pouring coins that represents unconditional love and charity.

“Charity” was taken to France in 1797 by Napoleon but later returned when Pope Pius III requested it as restitution. 

The famous “Belvedere Torso” is also included in the exhibition. Experts say that the sculpture was originally made to depict a torso portraying a hero’s body with the right amount of muscle and bones. But somehow the posture suggests that the man was captured at war and is waiting for death, creating a solemn mood.

The sculpture is believed to be the model for the Michelangelo’s painting of Adam in the Sistine Chapel and the inspiration for “The Thinker” by Rodin.

Well-known sculptures such as “Pieta,” “Laocoon and his Sons,” and others will be introduced to the Korean public, too. Though they are copies, they have been acknowledged as class-A figures by the museum.

Perhaps the most heartwarming piece will be “Angel Playing the Viola,” a representative fresco by Melozzo da Forli, one of the most noted painters of the 1400s, which recreates the Byzantine structure.

“The Vatican authorities were immediately interested that Italian art could travel so far. People in Korea will be able to see and experience the works and quality artifacts of the greatest people of the Renaissance,” said Guido Cornini, executive curator of the exhibition.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)