In the church of San Martino in the historic center of Bari, the restoration of the 15th-century fresco known as La Madonna del Segno has been completed. The work, located inside one of the city’s oldest buildings of worship, has returned to view in its original configuration after work conducted under the supervision of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the Metropolitan City of Bari, the territorial articulation of the Ministry of Culture headed by Alessandro Giuli. The intervention was made possible thanks to the collaboration between theAPS Martinus Association and the Degree Course in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage at theUniversity of Bari, which provided scientific and operational support. The fresco, datable to the first half of the 15th century, was in a condition that compromised its reading. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries it had undergone repainting that altered the original appearance of the image, changing its color range and softening the definition of its forms. The added layers, applied with outdated criteria, also hid older portions of the work and prevented an accurate analysis of the painting techniques used.
The restoration included a preliminary phase of investigation of the state of conservation, followed by a cleaning operation conducted with selective methodologies to ensure the preservation of the 15th-century pictorial film. The removal of nineteenth- and twentieth-century repainting then brought to light the original chromatics, based on calibrated and less saturated tones than the later overlays. Finishes emerged that more precisely define the figures, along with decorative elements that remained concealed under later interventions. The investigations also allowed the identification of older fragments, evidence of the execution phases of the work and the historical stratification that affected the wall. The re-emergence of the details offers restorers and scholars new data for the interpretation of the figurative context and for the framing of the fresco within the local pictorial production of the early 15th century.
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| Fifteenth-century fresco of 'Madonna of the Sign' restored in Bari |
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