Raphael, Cleaned Up
“Madonna of the Goldfinch,” a 500-year-old painting by the Renaissance master Raphael (1483-1520), will go on display next month after a decade-long restoration in a lab in Italy, the BBC reported. The 1506 “Madonna,” an oil on wood measuring about 42 by 30 inches, shows the Virgin Mary with two children — Jesus and John the Baptist — caressing a goldfinch. The painting, detail above, was nearly destroyed in 1547 when its owner’s home collapsed and the painting was smashed into 17 pieces. At the time, the painter Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, who was born the same year as Raphael, repaired it with nails, using paint to hide the seams. The restored work, minus layers of accumulated brown grime, will be seen in Florence, first at the Palazzo Medici and then at its longtime home, the Uffizi Gallery.
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Source: NYTimes
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