Memoriae Cartoni Raphaelis. Sidival Fila at the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana
On March 25, 2026, the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana presented Memoriae Cartoni Raphaelis , a permanent installation by Sidival Fila conceived in dialogue with Raphael's Cartoon for The School of Athens.
The work is born from the very history of Raphael's masterpiece and, in particular, from a material that had long remained invisible: the ancient linen that supported and protected its surface since the French period. Removed during the restoration completed in 2019, the fabric retains the tangible traces of time and the Cartoon's journey: stains, mold, signs of humidity, creases, and alterations to the material.
It is precisely from these traces that Sidival Fila develops her work. The linen is neither restored nor transformed into something else, but rather listened to in its specificity. The marks already present on the surface become the starting point for a new composition, in which the material can finally reveal its own history.
The installation is composed of five panels, with a total size of 300 × 609.8 cm, arranged in front of the Cartoon. Cuts, seams, tensions, and folds follow and emphasize the traces of the fabric, creating an autonomous presence yet profoundly linked to Raphael's work.
The dialogue between the two works thus creates a relationship between presence and absence: on the one hand, the line, the figure, and the representation of the Cartoon; on the other, the void, the trace, and the memory of the linen. What for centuries remained on the back of the work now becomes visible, carrying with it a history of its own.
As Sidival Fila states: "In this linen, marked by time and travel, I recognized a living memory: not a fragment to be preserved, but a presence that continues to speak."
Memoriae Cartoni Raphaelis thus becomes part of the permanent collection of the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, in the very place where the Raphael Cartoon is kept.
The Cardboard Room becomes a space for silent dialogue between past and present, conservation and creation, where material is no longer merely a testimony to history, but itself becomes a story.
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