Article translated by Amritee Mahabir

Still for a short time only the marvellous “Madonna of the Goldfinch” by Raphael is trusted into the hands of the restorer Patrizia Riitano. After nine years of restoration it is almost finished and everyone is waiting to see this work in the limelight. The “Madonna of the Goldfinch” is an oil on wood (107×77cm) executed by Raphael when he was only 23 years of age in 1506 as a wedding gift for Lorenzo Nasi. It is an extraordinary masterpiece of Italian art history particularly “unlucky” because just fourty years after it was finished, Vasari was witness to its involvement in the palaces collapse where it was kept. The 1547 incident had destroyed it reducing it into seventeen pieces. Since then, it was glued, restored and repainted. Its historical maintenance was constantly characterised by a submission of materials, mostly inclined to hide its old faults. In fact, to grant the antique restoration of the Raphaelesque painting, the wooden veneer and paint was taken away, adding more new materials without ever thinking of cleaning it. It is an amazing painting by Raphael done during his Florentine sojourn when he took to studying the masters he saw operating there by Perugino’s advise. Of particular influence was Leonardo da Vinci whose many designs remain as proof of this in Raphael’s Madonna which is kept in the Uffizi Gallery. For example, there is the classical triangular composition favoured by Leonardo, with the two cherubs who were invented by Leonardo himself. In this painting, the traditions of the Lombard master particularly emerges from the dark earth and the atmospheric surrender of the landscape in the background, that is lost in the fumes in the distance. The faces of John the Baptist and of Christ makes an unmistakable imprint derived from Leonardo in the faded tones that it’s bound by and in the corporeal marks.

Restoration began in 1999. It consisted of two years of studying, photographing, and radiography of the “Madonna of the Goldfinch”. Meetings were held between Cristina Acidini, the director of the Florentine museum Polo, the director of the Uffizi gallery, Antonio Natali, and the manager responsible for restorations of paintings, Marco Ciatti, to decide what to do and discover if under all the added colours, there was still a Raphael: his blue sky, the red dress, some small flowers. It took six years to remove the paint added during the centuries. Almost two years went into reconstructing the lost parts. Marco Ciatti, director of the the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, the autonomous institute of the Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage who undertook this restoration, declared: “We are truly at a difficult finish because soon we will be putting final touches with the last protective coats. The wood has recuperated its natural aged look and by now is void of all the numerous coats with which it was covered. It is an astonishing work that we are proud to show to the world.” In fact the splendid Madonna will be exhibited in advance at the Quirinale Palace from mid-September to mid-November according to the agreements made by the superintendent Cristina Acidini and the President of the Republic who has appointed the Civita company to curate the exhibition in Rome. After the free exhibit in the capital, the oil on wood by Raphael will return to Florence to be shown before Christmas in San Piero Scheraggio, and therefore taking its old place in the Uffizi Gallery.

A lot of people ask themselves why this privileged preview will happen in Rome. As Antonio Natali explains: “If the painting were to have left the Uffizi, I would be opposed to it, but it has been missing from the Gallery since ’99 from the Opificio delle Pietre Dure that is still a state institute, for an extraordinary event at the Quirinale”. While the director of the Opificio said: “we wanted a small important showcase and so it will be exhibited in Rome as, for example, has already happened with the bronze dancing Satiro. All necessary safety measures will be taken and it will be exhibited anyway inside a reliquary. And what’s better than the Quirinale, every Italian’s house? as Ciampi declared”.