The author would like to thank Keith Christiansen, Jane Wrightsman
Curator for Italian Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York, for his inspired and enthusiastic collaboration; Tom Wilmering, head
of furniture conservation in the Objects Conservation Department of the
Metropolitan Museum, and Ciro Castelli of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure,
Florence, for their valuable technical advice; and Sarah Fisher, head of
paintings conservation, National Gallery, Washington, D.C., and Laurent
Sozzani, then an intern at the Metropolitan Museum, for their dedicated
work on the painting surfaces.1 Aphotograph taken in 1897 in the files of the Metropolitan Museum already records the addi-
tion to the top of the Metropolitan panel.
2 Stephen Pichetto was trustee and/or curator of the Kress Collection from 1932 until his death
in 1949. He maintained a large conservation studio with several employees, and many impor-
tant pictures purchased in America during this period were treated in his studio. A man named
Angelo Fatta was apparently responsible for the thinning and cradling of panels under
Pichetto’s direction.
3 In conservation practice, reversibleis often synonymous with soluble. Obviously, the Ciba-Geigy
Araldite is not reversible in this sense. In many cases the solubility of an adhesive would not
be physically possible or even desirable. For instance, attempting to dissolve a water-soluble
adhesive sandwiched between wooden elements beneath a gesso ground, all of which are
hygroscopic, would have disastrous results. Often, as in the present example, mechanical rever-
sal of an insoluble adhesive would be preferable to any attempt at dissolving an adhesive layer.
Since rabbit-skin glue becomes brittle, it is possible to carve down to the glue line and scrape
away the glue without further damage to the original panel.
4 These variables would be very difficult, if not impossible, to quantify. Consequently, spring
tension must be set according to an empirical understanding based on knowledge accumulated
from the handling and flexing of similar panels.Acryloid B72, Rohm and Haas Co., Independence Mall Street, Philadelphia, PA 19105.
Araldite 1253 carvable paste,Ciba-Geigy Corporation, 4917 Dawn Avenue, East
Lansing, MI 48823.Buzzegoli, Ezio, Marco Marchi, and Magnolia Scudieri
1993 L’uomo con la Medaglia del Botticelli e il ‘Morgante Nano’ del Bronzino. OPD Restauro
5:23–27, 67–68.Castelli, Ciro, and Marco Ciatti
1989 Proposta di intervento su particolari supporti lignei. OPD Restauro1:108–11.Zeri, Federico
1964 Un intervento su Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Bollettino d’arte(1):41–44.References
Materials and Suppliers
Notes
Acknowledgments
358 Bisacca