#PretorioBackstage: Il restauro della Gurieva di Lorenzo Bartolini
Il Museo di Palazzo Pretorio è chiuso, ma al suo interno fervono le attività. Sono infatti in corso una serie di restauri e di interventi che abbiamo deciso di raccontarvi in una serie di video: il nostro backstage, quello che succede dietro le quinte.
Iniziamo parlando del restauro della statua della Contessa Gurieva di Lorenzo Bartolini. La statua in marmo è esposta all'Hermitage, ma il gesso è al Museo di Palazzo Pretorio in deposito statale dal 1953.
#PretorioBackstage
We are on the third floor of the Palazzo Pretorio Museum,
where the works of Lorenzo Bartolini are preserved,
the famous Pratese sculptor who was born in Vallata, Savignano, in 1777.
This year marks 200 years since this beautiful sculpture was made,
of which we have the plaster.
The original is at the Hermitage in San Pietroburgo
and represents the beautiful Marina Gurieva.
I told you it's 200 years old.
This is also evidenced by this plaque
where it is written that Bartolini made and dedicated to his friend Enger.
It is the moment when Lorenzo Bartolini is in Florence
at the studio with Enger.
Enger paints the portrait of her husband,
the famous Russian plenipotentiary Nikolai Guriev,
and is entrusted to Lorenzo Bartolini
the commission for this beautiful sculpture.
It is a work of great beauty, as I told you.
Especially this pose, this nonchalance of this beautiful woman
sitting on this tree trunk.
In the original statue in San Pietroburgo,
she even has a bouquet of flowers in her hand,
which no longer exists,
but you can see that her hands are ready to receive this bouquet.
In the marble sculpture in San Pietroburgo,
there is no longer even the necklace.
We are here because we have to restore this work
together with Filippo Tattini, who is our restorer,
who takes care of doing a little make-up
to this beautiful woman.
So I would like to know from Filippo,
why is this work so yellow?
And now it is much less yellow,
thanks to your restoration.
Why is there this patina on this statue?
It is so yellow because it underwent a calcification.
It underwent a calcification,
and as a detachment at the time, oils and soaps were given.
These oils and soaps were very much part of the porosity of the work.
And another thing that we are often asked,
what are all these veins on this beautiful face,
but also on the body, these dark dots that can be seen?
These dots are small metallic nails
that the artist inserted inside the work
to bring these dots back on the marble.
In practice, these were certain points
that, by means of compasses,
the artist then sculpted and brought these dots back on the marble
to gradually bring back the surface of the work in plaster on the marble.
And there are parts that are lighter.
Why? These parts here, for example, on the neck.
These lighter parts are progressions of restoration,
in which there were dark parts that I removed
and then later toned down.