Grace/Grazia: Bruce Gilden for Raphael

“Grace” was an idea that flourished across religion and the arts during the Italian Renaissance — a high distinction for the most worthy artists, a reference to the three graces in classical Greek mythology, and the Christian grace of God. Raphael, one of the most renowned artists of the era, embodied the 15th and 16th-century ideals of grace through his clarity, harmony, humanism, and interpretation of the human figure.

Now, commissioned by the Fondazione Brescia Musei, Bruce Gilden presents his own contemporary vision of “grace,” based on two early paintings by Raphael: The Angel (1501) and Christ the Redeemer (1505-1506). 

On view until July 12, 2026 at the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in Brescia, Italy, Grace / Grazia. Bruce Gilden for Raphael is Gilden’s response to Raphael’s works, which are currently on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York for the exhibition “Raphael: Sublime Poetry.” Gilden’s photographic reinterpretations temporarily take their place on the wall as modern takes of the master’s portraits, created when he was approximately 17 and 22 years old.

While Raphael’s angel achieves an element of sprezzatura — an effortless grace in its sideways glance, wispy hair and drapery — Gilden’s modern-day angel on Brighton Beach, New York regards the viewer head on. Her glacial blue eyes mirror the coastal sky, bearing a look of uncertainty and anxiety.

Raphael’s Christ the Redeemer inspired Gilden’s modern figure, who offers a peace sign as his own blessing. He bears a wound on his hand, in place of the crucifixion mark, while his red beanie replaces the Raphaelite cloth.

The photographer’s reimagined portraits translate serene religious symbols into face-to-face human encounters, offering an alternative form of the sacred. Grace, Gilden’s images suggest, is a phenomenon that presents itself in observing and recording the infinite spectrum of human emotion and experience.

“Bruce Gilden’s response takes the form of a contemporary act of “focusing” that moves beyond iconographic citation to transform the sacred into pure human presence. Through the frontal construction of the images, the photographer strips the divine figures of religious dogma to restore their human corporeality and consciousness,” says Magnum Global Cultural Director, Andrea Holzherr.

Exhibition curator Denis Curti notes that Gilden isolates “the epiphany of the everyday, which is the furtive capture of the human spirit that reveals itself in a fraction of a second, not always posed but always unrepeatable.”

In tandem with Gilden’s first major monographic exhibition in Italy, Bruce Gilden: A Closer Look, on view at the Museo di Santa Giulia until August 23, Grace / Grazia was a featured event at the Brescia Photo Festival in March 2026.

Discover more on Gilden’s exhibition at the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo here.