Last Wednesday, June 4, the National Archaeological Museum in Orvieto hosted the official presentation of the results of the project Recovered Wonders. The restoration of Orvieto’s Etruscan antefixes, carried out as part of the initiatives promoted by the Art Bonus platform. The project represented a concrete example of collaboration between public institutions and private entities in the area, involving 12 companies that are members of Confindustria Umbria-Sezione Territoriale Orvieto. The project, with funding of 6,000.00 euros, was coordinated by the National Museums of Perugia, under the Regional Directorate National Museums Umbria, and allowed the recovery of three Etruscan antefixes, terracotta architectural artifacts dating from the period between the fifth and third centuries before Christ.
The economic contribution of local companies made possible the entire restoration process, initiated and proposed by the Orvieto museum, demonstrating how the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage can become a shared goal felt by local communities. The project was realized thanks to the funding of twelve local companies, which chose to support the intervention through the Art Bonus platform, the legislative tool that allows liberal disbursements in favor of culture with tax benefits for donors. The companies involved are: Basalto La Spicca, Ceprini Costruzioni, C.I.S.E. - Costruzioni Idrauliche Stradali Edili, Compagnia del Cotone e della Seta, Famiglia Cotarella, Gruppo Biagioli, I.P.C. - Impresa Petrangeli Cesare, La Romana Farine, Mira Orvieto, Quattroluglio-Hotel Orvieto, Termopetroli and Welcare Industries.
“The restoration of the three antefixes kept in the MANOR’s storage rooms,” says the restorer who oversaw the project Alessandro Danesi, “was an ’opportunity to deepen our knowledge of the history and construction technique of these exceptional finds by comparing one of the antefixes from the Temple of Belvedere, of which other specimens are on display in the Museum, with two antefixes from an impromptu excavation that unfortunately did not provide data on the original building on whose roof the two antefixes were inserted. All three of these objects are made of terracotta, with obvious remains of paint, but their conservation history is different. The antefix from the Belvedere Temple was partially restored in the 1960s, with an integrative plaster reconstruction of the missing parts but without cleaning the original surfaces, while the other two antefixes were never restored. The objectives of the restoration intervention were twofold: to bring to light the remains of the original colors and, on the antefix of the Temple of the Belvedere alone, to attempt a critical intervention on the plaster integrations carried out at the time and responding to a dated aesthetic that wanted to reproduce the form of the original, reconstructing its modeling, without tackling the cleaning of the original parts, which instead have revealed with today’s intervention, the remarkable coloristic effects. The solutions adopted in this restoration are intended to propose a possible solution to carry out a critical intervention in the future also on the other finds of the Belvedere Temple, also exhibited at the MANOR, and equally made the subject of the same kind of heavy integrative restoration and since then I have been investigated more. This was a restoration intervention, rich in indications and suggestions and full of implications for future more extensive interventions, because in restoration the best way to proceed is always to start with the small things, proceeding step by step and with caution.”
The three antefixes covered by the intervention constitute an example of the artistic production of Volsinii, the ancient Etruscan Orvieto. They are decorative terracotta elements that once adorned the roofs of temples, testifying to the technical and creative level reached by local workshops. In particular, the two antefixes named A and B, which can be dated to the late fourth century and early third century B.C., depict a human head emerging from an acanthus headband. This iconographic type is among the artistic innovations peculiar to the Volsinii school, whose activity continued until the Roman conquest of the city. The antefix identified as C, on the other hand, displays stylistic traits that directly recall the hand of Phidias, a well-known sculptor of ancient Greece. It can be dated to between the end of the fifth century and the beginning of the fourth century BCE.
Despite the lack of detailed documentation on the context of the antefixes’ discovery, as well as the widespread use of the same dies for the serial production of artifacts destined for different shrines, it was possible to formulate reliable hypotheses about their provenance. Comparisons with similar terracottas found in the archaeological area of Vigna Grande suggest that the origin of antefixes A and B from this site is plausible. As for specimen C, however, formal similarities with other artistic evidence suggest a possible link with the Belvedere area, another sacred area of ancient Orvieto.
“The cleaning has highlighted the rich palette used by the ancient artisans, also revealing details that are difficult to see with the naked eye, such as the presence of granules of probable ’Egyptian blue,’” the restorer said further. “In the future, it is hoped that systematic scientific studies will be carried out that will bring Orvieto, an important center of Etruscan civilization, within the narrow perimeter of the panorama of studies on Etruscan painting on terracotta. The critical intervention on the plaster additions sought to remedy some of the objective limitations of the work, albeit valuable, of former colleagues, using a contemporary coloristic technique of chromatic abstraction. An attempt was made to emphasize only the original fragments, carefully cleaning up the edges of the original fragments and lowering the modeling of the integrations, suggesting the forms without the details and above all removing the heavy layer of brown tempera that often overflowed on the original colors, debasing the surfaces with a uniformly flat appearance.”
The importance of the project also lies in the possibility of reconstructing, through the restoration and study of the antefixes, the architectural and religious context of the area’s Etruscan temple structures. The restoration work thus restored structural integrity and legibility to the artifacts and offered the public an opportunity to appreciate their historical, artistic and cultural value. The restored antefixes are once again on display in the museum rooms and enrich the exhibition itinerary with new elements of knowledge about the Etruscan world.
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| Three Etruscan antefixes in Orvieto restored thanks to Art Bonus project with support from 12 companies |
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