When Venetian conservators were preparing for another round of conservation work on a monumental, 500-year-old masterpiece, they decided to open the process to the public eye.
Now installed in a special work area, visitors to the Galleria dell’Accademia can watch the various stages of conservation work that such an important and massive artwork requires to ensure it survives through the centuries.
Called Madonna and Child Enthroned, Music-Making Angels and Saints Francis, John the Baptist, Job, Dominic, Sebastian and Louis of Toulouse, the wood-panel painting was specially made by Venetian Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini for the altar piece at the Church of San Giobbe.
According to a museum statement, the painting was carried out by Bellini between 1478 and the end of the following decade, and represents a “decisive turn” in the evolution of altar piece artworks.
By 1810, time had taken its toll on the work which was made out of 13 horizontal panels of poplar wood held together with glue and wooden pins. The bottom five panels, over several historic rounds of conservation work, have held up the best, while the above 8 have fared poorer.
In that year it was taken from the Church of San Giobbe to the Galleria, where it’s remained ever since. This preservation work will include special diagnostic analysis, including ultraviolent, fluorescent, and infrared imaging to get a better understanding of what lies beneath the pigments, what the pigments themselves were made of, and perhaps whether Bellini began with preparatory work.
Already, conservators have learned that preparatory work was carried out with layers of glue and white primer, and that Bellini’s brush wielded precious and expensive pigments mixed by three.
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The previous centuries’ restoration efforts have now left the panel in need of a comprehensive treatment that will involve removing old varnish, addressing cracks formed in the swelling and shrinking of the poplar wood, scraping off dirt, and revivifying some of the color, a process which will take 2 years and $580,000 in grant money generously given by Venetian Heritage.
With so much touching up to do, the museum decided to move the altar piece to a special area where visitors can watch conservators work on the painting and receive explanations and descriptions about what is being done.
WATCH the painting being moved into the new area below…
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