Men and things: I. Restorers and restorations in Italy between the 18th and 20th centuries. Proceedings of the National Conference, Naples, 18-20 April 2007

Publisher: ClioPress. Editoria digitale per la didattica e la ricerca storica

Pages: 468

Language: Italian

NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/urn:nbn:it:unina-22056

Abstract:  The essays collected in this volume revolve around the activities of protection and preservation of the historical-artistic and archaeological heritage promoted in Italy between the second half of the 18th century and the first half of the 20^th. They refer to different works in both chronology and materials analyzed (wall and gallery paintings, medieval and Renaissance sculptures, mosaics, excavated vases, entire archaeological sites), with the natural corollary of the theoretical debates and the methodological statements that accompanied these same works.

The reference to Fernand Braudel in the title embodies the desire to trace a path that is not abstract, but grounded in the reality of the objects and of those who have been studying them in the past. The choice of a relatively broad time span, as well as the decision not to focus exclusively on a single type of object, seek to highlight the diachronic evolution of general concepts such as conservation and restoration, understanding links and differences between the pre-and post-unification phases of the layered national landscape. Further, they aim to retrace the conservative history of these works, hoping to also provide an interpretative tool to those who, in charge of the protection of these works, are tasked with the planning of future interventions: a proper programmatic preservation cannot, in fact, ignore the historical dimension that needs to inform any study that is to be done today on these works.

Table of contents

Introduction of Paola d’Alconzo

Chiara Piva, The Problem of “Skin” in the Restoration of Ancient Sculpture at the End of the Eighteenth Century: a Delicate Issue between Theory and Practice

Vito Chiaramonte, Valerio Villareale, Sculptor and Connoisseur, between Antiquarian Culture and Restoration

Alba Irollo, The Marble Restoration Workshop of the Royal Bourbon Museum: Ideas for History, Professionals and Methods

Andrea Milanese, «Pour ne pas choquer l’œil”. Raffaele Gargiulo and the Restoration of the Ancient Vases in the Royal Museum of Naples: Method Options and Oscillations of Taste between 1810 and 1840

Maria Ida Catalano, Telaiuoli and Quadrari in in the Eighteenth Century Naples

Paola D'Alconzo, From «imbrattatele» to «uomo di merito nella ristaurazione». Giovanni d’Episcopo, Restorer of Paintings of the Royal Museum of Naples between the Ancient Regime and the Decennio francese

Maria Beatrice Failla, Lo Stabilimento del ristauro de’ quadri and the Galleria dei Classici Italiani at the Royal Palace of Turin in the 1920s

Federica Giacomini, Pietro Camuccini Restorer, between Antiquarian Market and Culture of Protection

Giuseppina Perusini, Restoration in Friuli in the Early Nineteenth Century: Pietro Cernazai and his Unfinished Storia del restauro of 1841

Luisa Spatola, The Frescoes of Risalaimi. Preservations cases in the Savoy Age

Marina Santucci - Maria Tamajo Contarini, Between Accademia and Museum. Restoration Cases of Paintings of the Royal Bourbon Museum of Naples in the 1840s

Stefania De Blasi, Exchanges between the Royal Galleries of Turin and the National Gallery of London in the Mid-Nineteenth Century

Marco Mozzo, Market and Protection Policies in Veneto in the Second Half of the Nineteenth Century: the Case of the “carpaccesca” Altarpiece of Noale

Martina Visentin, The Unfaithfulness of Saint Thomas. The sale of the Cima di Portogruaro

Patrizia Agnorelli, Luigi Mussini between Restoration and Reconstruction: the Wheel of Fortune on the Floor of the Siena Cathedral

Piergiacomo Petrioli, Enea Becheroni Sculptor and Restorer in Siena: New Documents

Donata Levi, Material and Image: the Debate on the Restoration of Mosaics in Venice and Torcello between Reconstruction and Conservation

Silvia Milana, Restoration of the Mosaic in the Vatican in the First Half of the Twentieth Century: Mattias, Ideas for a Research

Rossella Fabiani, The protection of the San Giusto Cathedral in Trieste before 1918. The Activity of the Central Commission between Engagement and Debate

Silvia Cecchini, The City and its History: Rome between Philological Restoration and Showy Restoration

Matteo Panzeri, Between Cavenaghi and Pellicioli: Restorers and Art Historians in Milan between the Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries

Paolo Orizio, First Results of the ASRI Research on the Archive of Mauro Pellicioli

Index