It is regarded as one of Scotland’s most treasured paintings and the greatest work of art in Glasgow’s civic collection.
It also proves a major draw for visitors to the city’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, helping make the museum and art gallery one of Scotland's most popular free attractions.
Now Salvador Dalí's Christ of St John of The Cross is to go on display in Rome next week as part of an exhibition at the Church of San Marcello al Corso.
The exhibition is being organised by The Vatican in the lead-up to the Catholic Church’s Jubilee year in 2025 - and was requested by the Vatican Dicastery for Evangelization, which is overseen by Pope Francis.
Councillors at Glasgow City Council approved the loan in April.
READ MORE: Salvador Dalí masterpiece leaves Glasgow for six months to 'return home'
Dalí’s famous painting will be exhibited alongside the drawing of crucifix from which Dalí was inspired to create the work, namely the ‘relic drawing of the Crucified Christ’ made by 16th-century Carmelite priest John of the Cross, who according to tradition, drew the sketch after a mystical revelation. The work is preserved in the Convent of the Incarnation in Avila in central Spain.
In a statement, The Vatican said: “The two works on display in the church have never been displayed side by side in history, and for the first time they can be admired together.
“The exceptional possibility of exhibiting the relic-drawing was given by the generosity of the Monastery and the bishop of Ávila, H.E. Monsignor Jesús Rico García.
“In addition to its extraordinary artistic beauty, the theme of Christian hope, which Salvador Dalí's painting conveys, makes it particularly suitable for the context of the Jubilee.”
The free exhibition in Rome runs until June 23.
The display of Dalí's Christ of St John of The Cross by The Vatican in Rome comes after the painting returned ‘home’ for the first time since Director of Glasgow Art Galleries and Museums Dr Tom Honeyman secured it for the city for £8,200 more than seven decades ago.
Dalí's masterpiece was the focus of a temporary exhibition at The Dalí Theatre-Museum in The Dalí Theatre and Museum in the surrealist icon’s home town of Figueres, in Catalonia, Spain from the end of October last year until the end of April.
The exhibition - the largest the museum has hosted since it opened nearly 50 years ago - also showcased the comprehensive work by the Centre for Dalinian Studies - whose objective is to preserve, catalogue and study the documentary collection that it houses, as well as to foster research into the most diverse aspects of the oeuvre and life of Salvador Dalí.
The painting was originally scheduled to arrive at the museum in Figueres - where Dalí is buried in an unmarked crypt - in November of 2020 but was rescheduled due to the Covid pandemic.
The loan to The Dalí Theatre-Museum was the first time the painting had gone on display in Spain since it was exhibited in Madrid and Barcelona at the 1st Biennial of Latin American Art in 1952.
READ MORE: Dalí masterpiece being loaned out 'with no tangible benefit' to Glasgow
The loan to The Vatican is the fifth time Dalí's Christ of St John of the Cross has left Glasgow since 2010, when it spent six months on display at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta at an exhibition of the surrealist artist’s work.
The painting then left Glasgow again in September of 2017 before returning to the city in the summer of 2018, having featured in a Dalí/Duchamp exhibition in London's Royal Academy of Arts, before the exhibition travelled to The Dalí Museum in St Petersburg, Florida.
Dalí's Christ of St John of The Cross was also loaned out by Glasgow Life Museums to The Auckland Project in County Durham from July to December 2022 alongside another Spanish masterpiece in El Greco’s Christ on the Cross.
Prior to the loan to The Dalí Theatre-Museum last year, Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney expressed his concern that the painting is being loaned out "with no reciprocation".
He told The Herald: “While it may be the case that art exchanges between museums are important and commonplace, it is concerning that Glasgow Museums seem to be loaning out the crown jewel of its Kelvingrove art collection with no reciprocation nor any tangible social and economic benefit to the people of Glasgow.”
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