TheCentral Institute for Restoration is returning the detached fresco by Domenico Zampieri known as Domenichino depicting Hyacinth and Apollo to the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, home of theFrench Embassy. The wall painting arrived in 2023 at ICR’s restoration laboratory at Santa Marta al Collegio Romano, where it underwent an intervention as part of Ilaria Balmas and Claudia Bonanni’s dissertation, coordinated by Professor Carla Giovannone, with the collaboration of Angelandreina Rorro and Giancarlo Sidoti.
It is one of three works created by the artist between 1602 and 1603 to decorate the vaults of the loggia of the so-called “Casino della Morte,” now preserved in the Signature Hall of Palazzo Farnese. This pictorial cycle, considered Domenichino’s first significant evidence in Rome, deals with the theme of metamorphosis through three subjects from classical mythology: the death of Adonis, once on the vault of the portico facing the gardens; Apollo and Hyacinthus, on the vault of the room on the right; and Narcissus, executed towards the end of 1603 and placed on the vault of the room on the left.
The study and restoration phases, which came together in the thesis entitled The Restoration of the Detached Fresco of Hyacinth and Apollo. Substitution of the support and new techniques in the treatment of the lacunae, have made it possible to investigate the genesis and conservation history of the work, to re-establish its correct iconographic reading and, above all, to restore flatness to a surface compromised by the detachment carried out in 1817 by the extractor Pietro Palmaroli. The intervention also restored cohesion to the pictorial film and visual clarity to the scene.
The recovery of this third fresco emphasizes the continuity and value of the collaboration between the ICR and the French Embassy, in agreement with the Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio of Rome. The work will be remounted in the Sala delle Firme and presented to the public on Sept. 22, during the press conference celebrating 150 years of French presence at Palazzo Farnese together with the French Embassy and the École française de Rome, on the occasion of European Heritage Days.
For the ICR, the restoration of Hyacinth and Apollo was supervised by Carla Giovannone, Angelandreina Rorro, Giancarlo Sidoti, Aspasia Formichetti, Lucia Conti, Giulia Galotta, Edoardo Loliva, Marcello Melis, Carlotta Sacco Perasso, Angelo Raffaele Rubino, and Ludovica Ruggiero, speakers for the various historical, scientific and documentation disciplines, according to the multidisciplinary approach that distinguishes the Institute. We thank Cristina Polimeno for her collaboration in the final stages of the restoration. For the Soprintendenza Speciale Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Roma, directed by Daniela Porro, the talk was supervised by Alessandra Acconci.
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| Domenichino's Hyacinth and Apollo restored: ICR returns fresco to Palazzo Farnese |
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