6 Paul Laspeyres, a German architectural scholar who visited the ducal palace in 1873, mentions
that Prince Lancellotti purchased the studiolo for L 7,000 and that it had been thoroughly
restored (Laspeyres 1882).
7 The author is grateful to Mrs. William J. Robertson, who shared much information on the
restoration of 1937. She was eighteen years old at the time the studiolo was at her father’s
workshop, and she recalls having been involved in the restoration of the incomplete Latin text.
The workshop operated separately from Adolph Loewi, but according to Mrs. Robertson, it
executed all restorations for the firm.
8 Intarsia making typically involves a design drawing from which cartoons on paper are pro-
duced (Haines 1983). These cartoons are suitable for transferring the design onto the wood. In
this process the cartoons are cut into smaller pieces and glued to the wood surface. This tech-
nique allows the intarsiatori to cut accurately along the outline with woodworking tools to
produce properly shaped tesserae. The technique, in which the cartoons are destroyed, is prac-
ticed today by marquetry cutters (Ramond 1989).
9 The author owes a great debt to M. Kirby Talley Jr. for kindly allowing him to reproduce the
passage quoted at the beginning of this article (Talley 1992).
10 See note 4 above.
11 Some elements—for example, one of the boards of the support panel opposite the studiolo’s
entrance—had to be replaced because they no longer provided adequate structural strength.
12 The natural wood colors would have been richer, and the designs of the intarsia panels would
have had more contrast in the fifteenth century. Wood owes much of its color to the gums and
deposits it contains. Light-colored woods generally have fewer of these materials than darker
colored woods. During aging, two factors play a role in the change of a wood’s color. First, the
gums and deposits tend to fade, much as do natural textile dyes. Second, the main components
of wood, cellulose and hemicellulose, bleach upon aging, while lignin darkens. Thus, the aging
process causes the wood colors to drawtogether in tone and display aless vivid chroma.
13 “Noch sah ich dasselbe, wenn auch im Zustande arger Verwahrlosung im Jahre 1873”
(Laspeyres 1882:77).
14 No signs of active woodworm infestation marked any of the panels or ceiling components. It
is very likely that the panels and ceiling were fumigated around 1937–39.
15 South American rosewood would not have been available in Italy in the third quarter of the
fifteenth century. Small quantities of tropical woods may have been available through the trade
routes in Africa and Asia. It is unlikely, however, that these precious woods would have been
used in secondary areas in the intarsias (Baxandall 1986; Meilink-Roelofsz 1962; Origo 1985).
16 The mildest cleaning emulsion consisted of 600 ml Shellsol 71, 100 ml water, and 0.75%
Brij35, a nonionic soap. The author is grateful to Richard Wolbers, associate professor in the
Art Conservation Department at the University of Delaware, for his advice in making this
emulsion. Where necessary, a slightly stronger cleaning agent (composed of 445 ml benzene,
40 ml oleic acid, 15 ml triethanolamine, and 500 ml water) was used.
17 A7.5% shellac solution was preferred to a B72 solution, because the shellac provided fuller
color saturation for proper evaluation of the intarsia images. It formed a base for inpainting
some of the nineteenth- and twentieth-century restorations. It also protectively coated the
wood surface during consolidation in case of glue spillover.
18 The brass extensions were fabricated by Gerard Den Uijl, supervising maintainer of the
machine shop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
19 Ahigh-quality protein glue with a strength of about 640 g was used. It is a very pure glue,
possessing a high shear factor and no additives, made to the specifications of William Monical,
violin maker and restorer. The author is grateful to Stewart Pollens, associate conservator of
the Department of Musical Instruments at the Metropolitan Museum ofArt, for advice about
this glue and its properties.
20 Many nails had already been removed, probably by the Loewi restoration of 1938.
21 The stainless steel plates were made by Gerard Den Uijl, supervising maintainer of the
machine shop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.494 Wilmering