Brescia, young entrepreneurs fund restoration of Moretto masterpiece

The restoration of theCoronation of the Virgin with Saints Michael the Archangel, Joseph, Francis and Nicholas, a masterpiece by Moretto (Alessandro Bonvicino; Brescia, 1498 - 1554), has been completed in Brescia . The restoration of the work, which is kept in the church of Santi Nazaro e Celso in Corso Matteotti, Brescia (where Titian’s Averoldi Polyptych is also located), began last March and was financed thanks to part of the proceeds from the auction of the 19 works displayed in the exhibition Dalla Fabbrica all’Arte. The exhibition was promoted by the Young Entrepreneurs of Confindustria Brescia and curated by Davide Dotti.

The restored work was was presented this morning during a press conference at which Monsignor Giambattista Francesconi, pastor of the Church of Saints Nazaro and Celso, Francesco Veneziani, president of the Giovani Imprenditori of Confindustria Brescia, Anna Tripoli past president of the Giovani Imprenditori di Confindustria Brescia, Angelo Loda, official of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio (ABAP) of Bergamo and Brescia, Davide Dotti, art critic and curator of the exhibition Dalla Fabbrica all’Arte, Vincenzo Gheroldi, professor at the University of Bologna, Antonio Zaccaria, restorer in charge of the work.

To ensure optimal conservation of the painting, it was decided not to subject the work to stressful handling or changes in the thermo-hygrometric parameters to which it has settled over time. The intervention was carried out on site, on a two-story scaffold designed to allow the work to advance about three meters from the masonry, allowing the structure to be checked from the back. The wooden carpentry of the board, composed of poplar planks and walnut elements, was found to be in excellent condition. This methodological choice made it possible to preserve the integrity of the work and ensure its stability over time.

The restoration also made it possible to further enhance Moretto’s masterpiece, returning it to the community in all its beauty and integrity. The restoration work, financed thanks to the collaboration between public and private entities, represents a virtuous example of how the synergy between different institutions can contribute to the preservation and enhancement of the artistic and cultural heritage, and the presentation of the restored work is a relevant event for the community of Brescia and for all art lovers.

“On the pictorial surface, the restoration was not limited to an aesthetic recovery, but first had to secure and fix particles of pictorial matter that had been lifted and were about to fall off, due to a slight shrinkage of the wooden fiber over time,” explains restorer Antonio Zaccaria. “The structure of the pictorial film and the finishing glazes have come down to us in a good state of preservation, a sign that past cleanings had fortunately not resorted to aggressive solvents, perhaps out of special regard for a masterpiece by the most revered of Brescian masters. However, the old varnish superimposed on the paint film was considerably altered, veering from its original transparency toward a greenish-yellow color that, aided by the darkening also induced by lampblack and deposits of atmospheric dust, had completely changed the color temperature of Moretto’s palette. In the course of the current restoration, the very delicate and selective cleaning operation has seen the silvery light and crystalline chromatics that have enchanted legions of scholars, critics and painters over the centuries gradually resurface. The diagnostic investigations carried out on the work by Vincenzo Gheroldi, in several steps coordinated with the technical phases, made it possible to decline the intervention methodologies with full awareness of every minimum variation of the highly refined original executive technique. They concluded the intervention with the plastering in the falls of pictorial matter, the reconstruction of the missing polychromy and the application of a very light layer of protective resin.”

“The support of business to culture, in all its forms, has always been a central point in the action of the Young Entrepreneurs of Confindustria Brescia,” comment Francesco Veneziani and Anna Tripoli, president and past president of the Young Entrepreneurs of Confindustria Brescia. “The restoration of Moretto’s work is a perfect synthesis of this: a symbolic legacy of the year of Bergamo Brescia Italian Capital of Culture 2023, as well as a project in continuity between our presidencies, in which the governing councils strongly believed. The goal was to return Moretto’s work to the citizenship, ready to be admired, before the beginning of summer, and we succeeded. We therefore thank again all the people who contributed to the purchase of the works: this is only a first step, from which the series of charitable activities that the Young Entrepreneurs aim to promote thanks to the proceeds of the exhibition itself will take off.”

“Seeing an extraordinary masterpiece of the Renaissance not from Brescia, but from Italy, such as Moretto’s Coronation of the Virgin, reborn was a unique emotion,” says Davide Dotti, critic and curator of the exhibition Dalla Fabbrica all’Arte, “not only because the work was severely altered in its chromatic and luministic values, now returned to its original splendor, but also because here the great Bonvicino reaches the apex of his expressive qualities, blending the intense naturalism of the Lombard brand with the dense and luminous chromatism of the Veneto, paying homage in the magnificent figure of the Archangel to Raphael and in that of the Virgin to Titian.”

Brescia, young entrepreneurs fund restoration of Moretto masterpiece

Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.