by Redazione 02/11/2026
Categories: Exhibitions / Disclaimer
From November 3 to January 31, 2027, the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence is exhibiting the triptych by the Master of the Straus Madonna, which was severely damaged by the 1966 Arno flood and restored through a complex conservation project. Also on display are historical photographs documenting the recovery efforts.
A painting damaged by the 1966 flood, which was salvaged through a complex restoration process and remained in the museum’s storage for years, is once again on public view. From November 3, 2026, to January 31, 2027, the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence will present the triptych by the Master of the Madonna Straus, as part of the symposium “Beyond the Emergency.” The exhibition, housed in the first-floor galleries dedicated to late Gothic painting, is accompanied by a selection of historical photographs documenting the damage caused by the flood and the subsequent restoration efforts.
The work depicts the Madonna and Child with Saints Matthew and Michael the Archangel and dates to around 1380–1385. Its artist, an anonymous painter active in Florence between the late 14th century and the first quarter of the 15th, trained in the workshop of Agnolo Gaddi and was influenced by Lorenzo Monaco. His work is characterized by an elegant and refined style, recognizable in the figures’ gentle and melancholic expressions and in the decorative elements, from the engraved halos to the precious fabrics.
Purchased in 1889 by the Florentine Royal Galleries, the triptych comes from the church of San Michele Arcangelo in Nebbiano, in the Certaldo area. Since 1912, it had been housed in the Oratory of Santa Maria Vergine della Croce al Tempio in Florence, where it remained on November 4, 1966, when the waters of the Arno flooded the building. The flood caused severe damage to the painted surface and the gilding of the background, making prompt intervention necessary. The restoration work was carried out in the workshops set up at the Fortezza da Basso, where the consequences of the disaster on Florence’s artistic heritage were addressed.
Once the restoration was complete, the painting was presented in 1972 at the exhibition *Firenze restaura: il laboratorio nel suo quarantennio* (*Florence Restores: The Workshop’s Forty Years*), organized at the Fortezza da Basso in a section dedicated to works damaged by the flood. Transferred to the Galleria dell’Accademia in 2000, the triptych remained in storage until its current exhibition.
The historical photographs accompanying the exhibition allow visitors to reconstruct the various stages of the restoration and document the work carried out to preserve the artwork. The painting’s return to the museum galleries thus restores visibility not only to a masterpiece of late-Gothic Florentine painting but also to a chapter in the history of conservation, marked by the difficulties faced after 1966 and the expertise gained in the wake of that emergency.
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| The 1966 flood had damaged it: a restored triptych returns to exhibition in Florence |
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