On the 500th anniversary of Raphael Sanzio's death, on February 16 the National Gallery of Art (NGA) in Washington D.C. inaugurated “Raphael and his circle”, an exhibition with drawings by Raphael and his most distinguished pupils – Giulio Romano, Perino del Vaga and Polidoro da Caravaggio – and some of the best engravings by the main interpreters of the Raphaelesque tradition.

Coinciding with the opening of the exhibition, which will be on view until June 14th, the Embassy of Italy and the Italian Cultural Institute in Washington DC, organized, on February 19th, a lecture by Jonathan Bober, Andrew W. Mellon Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings at the NGA, on the life and work of Raphael.