The Pinacoteca Civica “Francesco Podesti” in Ancona, a candidate city for the Italian Capital of Culture 2028, has just reopened to the public with hundreds of registered visitors in just two weeks, kicking off its exhibition activity with the Carlo Maratti and Engraving exhibition from December 20, 2025, to March 15, 2026. Curated by Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò and Stefano Papetti, two of the most authoritative scholars of Roman Baroque, the exhibition highlights the relationship between painting, engraving, and reproduction in Maratti's language. 

The exhibition is also an integral part of the official program of the National Committee for the Celebrations of the IV Centenary of the artist's birth, established by the Ministry of Culture and supported by the Marche Region, the Municipalities of Ancona, Camerano, and Ascoli Piceno, and with the prestigious patronage of the Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, of which Maratti was the Prince.

The exhibition project represents a rare example of a monographic exhibition on Maratti's engraving work built with philological and scientific method, where research and dissemination intertwine. The 44 exhibited engravings, divided by type and function, offer a complete path: from the artist's autograph engravings to reproductions of his masterpieces, to book illustrations and subjects related to the Accademia dell'Arcadia, revealing the breadth of his artistic and cultural influence. 

A central element of the exhibition concerns the innovative use of engraving as a means of diffusion and consecration of one's work. Maratti followed and supervised the copperplate transposition of over 400 engravings taken from his drawings and paintings and created 13 original youthful engravings, all present in the exhibition. These works, entrusted to famous European engravers, allowed Maratti's language to spread widely among courts, artistic academies, and collector circuits, long before the invention of photography. In many cases, prints were commissioned even before the original painting was placed or sent, as was the case for works destined for Rome, Vienna, and Palermo.