Exhibition “De arte pingendi. Painting in the Records of the Monte di Pietà of Rome”
Palazzo Sciarra Colonna – Historical Archive
21 November 2025 – 12 April 2026

The exhibition “De arte pingendi. Painting in the Records of the Monte di Pietà of Rome” draws inspiration from Dalí’s work 50 Magical Secrets for Painting, a volume in which he praises the masters of the Renaissance (Raphael, Leonardo, Bramante, Palladio) as well as his great contemporary Pablo Picasso.
The documents on display illustrate the significant and little-explored relationship between the Monte di Pietà and art in general—particularly painting—both through its direct commissions and as an integral part of its artistic and devotional heritage. Indeed, the visual themes and iconography of the paintings and sculptures commissioned by or donated to the Monte di Pietà contributed to shaping the imagery of charity and mercy, themes strongly favoured by the institution.
The exhibition will be enriched by two prestigious loans: the Treatise on Painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1540), from the Vatican Apostolic Library; and the letter written by Raphael, in collaboration with Baldassare Castiglione, addressed to Pope Leo X in 1519, from the State Archives of Mantua.