Important news has emerged about the Holy Face of Lucca from the first restoration operations

Within the framework of the diagnostic investigations and the first restoration operations of the Holy Face of Lucca, promoted by the Ente Cattedrale thanks to an agreement with the Soprintendenza Archeologia, Belle Arti e Paesaggio for the provinces of Lucca and Massa Carrara and the Opificio delle Pietre Dure and the contribution of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca, important news have emerged. In fact, the sculpture has been located since last December in the specially prepared site area inside the Cathedral of San Martino in Lucca and has been subjected to acareful campaign of scientific investigations with the aim of deepening its technical and material aspects and the first operations necessary to secure the pictorial film, thanks to a multidisciplinary working group that includes art historians, scientific experts and specialized restorers.

The diagnostic campaign has made it possible to acquire new information about the technique used to make the Holy Face: the arms are grafted to the body, carved from a single large walnut trunk entirely hollowed out on the inside from head to toe, by means of a system of joints that fit into special housings. The joint of the arms is strengthened by a band of fabric, while the union of the crucifix to the cross is ensured by six pins (four made of oak and two of cedar that secure the arms to the cross below). The antiquity of the wooden Christ (8th-9th century) is also confirmed by new C14 analyses performed on the fabric band at the junction of the left arm with the torso of the crucifix.

The investigations also revealed two restorations, hitherto unknown from the sources: an ancient remaking of part of the toe of both feet, perhaps worn away by the devotion of the faithful, and a more recent remaking of the thumb and forefinger of Christ’s left hand. Under the dark layer that now entirely covers the robe, at the neck and at the end of the sleeves, gilding with plant motifs surrounded by decoration consisting of red and white raised dots was found.

Regarding the dark in the flesh tones, cross and robe, the Holy Face has been repainted several times throughout its history, thus hiding its original coloring. For the understanding of the polychromes that succeeded one another in ancient times on the sculpture, as well as for the brown tints applied on several occasions in more recent times on the Holy Face, an essential support comes from the ongoing chemical analyses, which characterize the pictorial layers in their compositional materials, including preparatory supports, chromatic pigments and binders. The analyses revealed the different pigments used, including the lapis lazuli used by the first layer that gave a blue tint to the robe. The binders identified were many, thanks to chemical investigations in the different pictorial layers ranging from animal glue to egg white to essential oils.

Also examined for the first time was the cross of the Holy Face, first documented in a miniature, in the Codex of the Fraternity of the Holy Face from the early fourteenth century. Analysis using Carbon 14 revealed it to be actually much older, that is, from the early medieval period like the Christ. Analysis of the wood species of the cross revealed the presence of two different woods: chestnut for the vertical axis and cedar for the horizontal arm. While the chestnut is a plant of wide European spread, the cedar was only transplanted to Europe from the Middle East in the 16th century. It is therefore an imported find, the use of which for the Holy Face cross was probably due to a symbolic purpose, in an effort to confirm the provenance from the Holy Land of what was believed to be the veridical portrait of the Savior carved by the disciple Nicodemus. The antiquity of the cross is also attested, underneath the current dark tinting, by the different layers of color covering it, and the presence of real decorations around the figure of Christ has been detected.

These investigations, which make it possible to understand the composition of each layer, as well as the X-ray recordings, are fulfilling a twofold purpose: the knowledge of a complex history that has developed over the long course of this one thousand two hundred year old work, and the necessary support for the restoration work underway, both in terms of methods and operational choices, with particular reference to the delicate cleaning phase that is about to begin. So far, the color that was lifting in several places has been stopped, anoxic treatments to preserve it from biological attack, and an initial surface cleaning of both the interior and exterior of the sculpture. Now with the acquisitions on the composition of the pictorial layers and the construction technique, it will be possible to enter into the heart of the second phase of the restoration.

During the operations preliminary to the handling of the Holy Face, when it became necessary to remove the cloth-covered wooden backdrop that served as the background to the Holy Face, another important novelty emerged in the Civitali tempietto: the wall behind it, consisting of a stone ashlar wall structure, turned out to be quite different from the marble walls of the Civitali. A fragmentary mural painting emerged on the wall in the background of the Holy Face, with an aniconic decorative party of lozenges, plant whorls and wheels flanking an ochre-colored cross. A hitherto unknown and unexpected arrangement of the small temple and the setting of the Holy Face, which in formal and material characteristics seems to predate the sacellum of Matteo Civitali built between 1482 and 1484.

Ongoing investigations on both the masonry and the foundations are aimed at clarifying its characteristics and dating: the hypothesis is in fact the pre-existence of the wall to Civitali’s tempietto, and its likely belonging to the medieval chapel, recalled by documents and partly depicted in a miniature of the early fourteenth century. Its preservation in the fifteenth-century arrangement of the venerated Crucifix can be understood as the “sacralization” of an element that having been in contact with the Holy Face had itself become a precious relic.

The investigations, extended on this occasion to the entire tempietto, and the recovery of the wall paintings (including the study of a system that would allow at least partial accessibility once the wooden simulacrum is relocated) will be the subject of an expansion of the project for the Holy Face, coordinated by the technicians of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure. In agreement with the Ente Cattedrale, data collected during the construction site concerning both the tempietto and the sculpture will be able to be returned to the public through a dedicated computer platform that will also use 3D modeling.

Image: Holy Face of Lucca (Lucca, Cathedral of San Martino). Photo by Lucio Ghilardi

Important news has emerged about the Holy Face of Lucca from the first restoration operations

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.