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In 2018, a fundraising project “In the Name of Michelangelo” was set up, supported by 132 donors from fourteen different countries, for the restoration of the monumental tomb of Michelangiolo Buonarroti, 1564-1576, built on a project by Giorgio Vasari, who painted also the large altarpiece with the “Ascent to Calvary” scene.

The painting had in fact much darkened due to the strong yellowing of the protective varnish, laid during the last restoration dating back to about 50 years earlier. Moreover the previous conservation intervention  had not completely solved the problems of decohesion of the preparatory layer and loss of parts of the paint layer: all consequences of the flood suffered in 1966.

Art–Test was entrusted with the diagnostic campaign, i.e. with a series of non-destructive diagnostic investigations (Reflectography, X-ray fluorescence analyses) and a micro-sampling, intended to facilitate the work of the restorer, which was known to be rather complex.

A careful selective cleaning was required on the different repainting and retouching layers linked to past restorations, to be performed with specifically prepared mixtures who had to take into account what was present on the surface.

Then, when possible, the missing parts were  to be filled without interfering with the original painting. The aim was for the painting to finally regain all the compositional and chromatic vivacity typical of Vasari.

Although the restoration has been much discussed, details previously not fully appreciated have re-emerged such as a face that looks like that of a young Michelangelo who, in the likeness of Nicodemus, looks in the direction of his tomb, located to the right of the painting, and of a gray-haired Rosso Fiorentino, with a vermilion, that is, dark red headdress, in the guise of Giuseppe d’Arimatea.

The reflectographic images then revealed the complex genesis of the painting, with numerous changes in the composition, research that has not yet been published.

During the diagnostic operations, the restoration site was characterized by its openness to the public who followed the progress of the work with great interest.

a glimpse during the investigation campaign

Carlo Dolci, also known as Carlino, was a beloved and acclaimed artist by the critics of his time, he was considered the greatest Florentine painter of the seventeenth century, contended by European nobility (although he almost never left the Tuscan territory). He was back in the spotlight thanks to the monographic exhibition at the Galleria Palatina of Palazzo Pitti in Florence. The exhibition brought together works from numerous European museums: the British Museum in London, the Musée du Louvre in Paris, the Staatliche Museen in Berlin, the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, the Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland, the Alte Pinakothek of Monaco Bavaria, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, theAshmolean Museum in Oxford, the Burghley House in Stamford, the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Brest, the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Madrid and the British Royal Collection, reflecting the international scope of his works.

Interior of the exhibition ” Io, Carlo Dolci “, Galleria Palatina, Palazzo Pitti, Florence

At exhibition are exposed nearly 100 paintings, of which seventy by Dolci, and the remainings by his contemporaries, in oreder to facilitate comparisons and show connections, in a sort of compendium of his descriptive style, rigorous and meticulously attentive to detail, smooth, icy but sensual, which has been called “hyperrealist” before its time. His almost obsessive rendering of details is exemplary: from the soft and almost palpable fabrics of the robes, to the splendid jewels, which, quoting the biographer Filippo Baldinucci, were “imitated in such a gorgeous (and realistic) fashion, that, as much as one touched and retouched the canvas to make sure they were painted, the eye was left in doubt.”
This exhibition has been a precious opportunity to kick off a major campaign of restoration and overhaul of 33 works of the Master, also important for the study of the unique painting technique used, which involved innovative wits to reach the coveted mimesis. Moreover, radiographic analyses have allowed to add completely unexpected insights to the knowledge also of well-known paintings of Dolci’s catalogue, such as in the case of the diagnostic tests on the “Madonna with Child” of the Palatine Gallery (performed by Art-Test, not yet published), which revealed substantial changes to the composition.

Art diagnostics is, among other things, an outpost for the protection of cultural heritage. The case we are presenting here is one of the many we have treated. Not all of them become public, and they do not all end in court.

In France legislation imposes to destroy fake paintings. Perhaps this is too extreme. But the damages that a fake painting can do to the buyer, to the understanding of the esthetic of a painter and to the market, iare vast.

Who wants to have a fake Picasso circulating the market?

Years ago we received a painting presented to us as by Picasso. During the first Scientific Condition Report we highlighted inconsistencies, despite the painting having deceived even scholars and the members of the commission of the Export Office of the Superintendence of Turin.

Thus, we were asked to deepen the analysis with a complete diagnostic campaign, both with non-invasive and micro-destructive investigations: multispectral analysis, infrared reflectography, radiography, color analysis with XRF, and with chemical analysis on micro-samples.

All the elements of the painting were evaluated, even the frame on which it was anchored and the labels on the back. All of course in concertation with the study of the Picasso’s technique and way of working.

After having realized that something is wrong, it is in fact necessary to recognize which ones are the irrefutable evidences that the artifact is an intentional forgery.

In our world the word “false” has multiple declensions, nuances, not always totally negative: e.g. a work even if it is not to be attributed to a given author, may still be of the same period, produced at the same time, and have a consistent value.

In other cases paintings are sometimes incorrectly indicated as false when they are “academy exercises”, in this case they are in fact better defined as “copies”.

This time, however, we were confronted with an “intentional forgery”, that is, an artifact created and placed on the market with the sole purpose of defrauding a possible buyer.

The painting we are talking about is El Pintor, signed “Picasso”.

Following the diligent work of the Carabinieri Protection Unit, on 2 August 2019, the investigation work conducted was disclosed. Investigation and process that led to identify those responsible for the scam.

Of course, the advice is always to proceed with the analyzes before purchasing. And also this time our motto (originally by Leonardo)  falls perfectly: “it is better a small certainty than a big lie”.

In 2014 we participated in the studies conducted on archeological finds seized from the excavations of Paestum. A unique and exciting experience, due to the richness of the material and the unrivaled scenery of the park.

The investigations were designed to contribute to an exhibition – Possession – which had the intent to highlight the sick feelings behind the theft or purchase of archaeological finds from clandestine excavations.

Thanks to scientific investigations it was possible to understand which finds were original and which were counterfeited, and created for purely fraudulent purposes. Again in 2016 we replicated the experience by being part of the research group that studied “The diver” and “The lovers”, as well as the tomb of the “Palmettes”.

The results of the first campaign can be found in the catalog of the “Possession” exhibition, the results of the second were presented in the latest edition of Florence Heri-Tech and published OpenAccess.

Using a multidisciplinary approach, a comparative study of the pigments used on the painted slab tombs was conducted with the aim of identifying specific characteristics and revealing the executive practices. Several non-destructive analytical techniques were employed (IRR, UV fluorescence, VIL, FORS, ER-FTIR, Raman and XRF). The investigated tombs, exhibited in the museum or preserved in the deposits, come from Hellenistic and Lucanian necropolises: the famous Tomb of the Diver from the necropolis of Tempa del Prete; the Tomb of the Palmettes from the Arcioni necropolis; the tombs T314 and T210 of the Gaudo necropolis; the tombs T6, T23, T21, T76, T20, T11, T12 of the Andriuolo necropolis and the tombs T109 and T110 of the necropolis of Santa Venera were also investigated. The archaeometric results highlight some signs of a local artisan tradition that developed in the Greek colony of Paestum around 500-475 BC.

Different types of pigments were found depending on the period. There are various types of red, green, yellow and even blue, the famous Egyptian Blue.

Brazil welcomed the exhibition “Caravaggio and his followers: confirmations and problems” with extraordinary enthusiasm.

The exhibition included 6 canvases painted by the Maestro and 14 works by the “Caravaggeschi”.

The intent of the exhibition was also to update the panorama of studies on Caravaggio and his followers.

In the rich catalog of the exhibition, for each single work exhibited, the motivation for the proposed attribution is presented, if still uncertain, and the diagnostic investigation carried out is illustrated.

Art–Test Firenze contributed with a contribution on “Portrait of a Cardinal“, in the Uffizi Collection in Florence, which leaves Italy for the first time.

Among the various features that emerged, the most interesting is undoubtedly derived from the analysis with the Art-Test patented Multilayer ® method. Thanks to the exclusive technique of stratigraphic rendering of the image, the clear reading of a pre-existing writing is highlighted at Layer 5 and, at Layer 7, the preparatory drawing of the Master who clearly defined the contours of the cardinal’s robe, with a “hood” on the vest, which is different from what can be seen with the naked eye.

The Nerli altarpiece by Filippino Lippi (1457-1504), a magnificent panel still in the original location selected for it by the client Tanai de ‘Nerli -who is portrayed in the painting together with his wife Nanna- was restored by the talented Anna Teresa Monti.

A detail of the IR Scanner reflectography of the Pala Nerli

The intervention proved to be an opportunity to rediscover, in every sense, a painting that, despite another relatively recent restoration (1990), had remained hidden under a series of varnishes and patinations.

Before evaluating whether to proceed with the removal of these, however, it was necessary to know what the conditions of the original pictorial layer were. For example, as we read in the text of A.T. Monti, in the volume: “The Nerli Altarpiece by Filippino Lippi in Santo Spirito, Studies and Restoration”, edited by D. Rapino, ed. Mandragora, “The face of the virgin, which was described by Nelson, direct witness of the last restoration, with an abrasion that creates a nuanced effect“, aroused concern. Even the comparison with the radiography, performed in 1990, did not provide comforting indications as it did not read the presence of white lead.

The non-invasive diagnostic investigations, conducted by Art–Test Firenze, helped to define the intervention in this as in other parts of the painting.

“The multispectral IR analysis was able (..) to read backgrounds and lines in the faces that hinted at the presence of original painting underneath partial and dull remakes. In addition, the Multilayer analysis revealed small cleaning blocks located in depth, in the perimeter areas, and one, larger (..) in correspondence with the lower edge of the mantle of the Santa Caterina. (..) “.

The rediscovery of the original pictorial layer, generally well preserved, has made it possible to reveal the painter’s mastery, who uses a plethora of technical devices, such as different binders, and different types of gold paint, to obtain superb effects of brightness, preciousness, but also a realistic rendering of the materials and the play of shadows and reflections.

Scanning IR reflectography also showed how the painting is the result of a complex process, visible in the preparatory drawing. The initial conception of almost all the figures differs in fact from the final realization.

As for the perspective lines, these do not converge in a single point. Some are approximately directed towards a central area of ​​the upper part of the painting, but some of these lines do not follow this trend not even waguely. A way of proceeding that is not found, for example, in the works of Botticelli, who on the contrary uses a very well studied perspective construction, while it is found in other works by Filippino, more attentive to a convincing rendering than to a scientific approach.

The painting also revealed other surprises, such as a first setting with a completely different game of looks, and some unfinished parts. We invite you to go and see it in the Basilica of Santo Spirito in Florence and to read the studies, also relating to the proposal for a new dating.

To know more:

After two years during which it was studied and restored, on May 4, 2013, the venerated image of the Madonna Di San Luca, patron saint of the city of Bologna, was carried in procession and hosted for a week in Bologna’s cathedral.

The study of the icon was initiated for noble cause, namely for the creation of a 3D relief intended for the visually impaired. It was therefore necessary to “free”, even if only temporarily, the painting from the centuries-old silver and gold casing in which it is contained and which allows only the face of the Virgin and that of the Child to be seen.

It was finally possible to enjoy the sacred image up close and without “constraints” and to plan an in-depth study of the image and an important restoration.

The director of the works was the scholar Franco Faranda who judges the image of exceptional beauty especially when compared with works of the same period.

Art–Test Firenze was able to contribute to this in-depth study by carrying out an extensive diagnostic imaging campaign with Infrared Scanner Reflectography, Multilayer Analysis, Multispectral Infrared, UV Fluorescence and Visible imaging, IR False color, UV reflection and False Color UV, video microscopy in diffused and ultraviolet light.
The results of this campaign will be presented in a publication edited by Dr. Faranda.

Dusting and removing of a blackened layer of glue, consolidation of the pictorial film, and remediation of xylophagous insects damages, are the interventions that have characterized this conservation treatment.

On this occasion, a conservation intervention was also carried out on the beautiful planter that adorns the painting during his wanderings.

A supposed Mary Magdalen turned out, thanks to diagnostics and restoration, to be the portrait of a young noble woman

After the restoration

When thinking about the works of Giovanni di Battista di Iacopo, known as Rosso Fiorentino, you think of grotesque figures, occasionally having an almost demonic appearance. Figures completely deprived of those refined and elegant filters typical of the Renaissance art.Rosso’s style is unique, extremely detailed, but at the same time characterized by geometric, almost static elements. Animated and tormented compositions are flanked by extremely wide drapery with angular shapes, sometimes unrealistic, and by an extreme expressiveness of the portrayed characters, as it happens in The Deposition.Born in Florence in 1494 and trained together with his peer Pontormo in the workshop of Andrea del Sarto between 1510 and 1517, Rosso showed, since his earliest works, a rebellious attitude towards the constraints imposed by the dominant artistic movement, of which the decline had already begun. Trying to recreate that dynamism in the bodies that he admired in Michelangelo’s works, he laid the foundations of the Florentine manner and after moving to France of the Fontainebleau school and of Mannerism as a whole.His unique and certainly easily recognizable style will later undergo a further darkening following the sack of Rome in 1527.However, looking at the Portrait of a young woman, an oil painting on panel, now exhibited in the new rooms of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, although belonging to this collection since 1894, one would think that there must have been a first moment in which the artist’s personality had yet to assert itself. Or, and more likely, that at the time, the young painter, just sixteen years old, was more cautious in determining the composition, and just followed the “fashion” of the time.This young woman is portrayed in a three quarter pose, in a gentle, orderly way. Her appearance, her dress, the whole composition, the simple, timidly hinted, landscape in the background seem to wink at Raphael. In fact, there are many similarities with e.g. La Gravida (1505-1506). The black low-cut dress with green inserts on the bust is very reminiscent of the fashion of the early sixteen century. However, before the analyses, details such as the veil and the halo, just hinted around her head, suggested the portrait of a saint, and indeed it was identified as a Mary Magdalene.

Visible image before restoration

UV image

Infrared reflectography

You can see in the first picture the appearance of the painting in 2009 when it was analyzed by Art-Test. With the objective to establish what was original and what was not, the painting has been analyzed with UV fluorescence imaging, to locate any previous restoration work, and with IR reflectography, to study the preparatory drawing. The combination of the two tests allowed the restorer to proceed with a rather important cleaning project which involved the total removal of those elements that turned out to be not original, such as the halo, the veil and the red drapery that partially covered the young girl’s shoulder. Now the young woman shows similarities with the girls portrayed by Andrea del Sarto in The Nativity of the Virgin and with those of the Assumption painted by Rosso in the cloister of the Vows in 1514. It is true, however, that the absence of Rosso Fiorentino’s stylistic peculiarities make the attribution of the work doubtfulThe diagnostic-restoration binomial thus culminated with the return to the Uffizi of the portrait no more of a Magdalene but of a young and elegant women with clothes, hairstyle, and jewelry typical of the sixteenth century.

In the mid-sixteenth century, when he was still a cardinal, the future Pope Pius V decided to found a Dominican convent in his native town, Bosco Marengo, a small town near Alessandria, hitherto poor and absolutely unknown.

Not only that, a few months after his ascent to the papal throne, in the summer of 1566, he entrusted Giorgio Vasari, an artist at the height of his success and active for many years in Florence, with the task of painting a large “pala” for the church of a convent that was still under construction, but which one day should have received his remains. To understand the ambition of this project, consider that for the main altar, the pope asked that what Vasari describes in his autobiography as “… a very large machina almost like a triumphal arch, with two large panels, one in front and one behind, and in smaller pieces about thirty stories full of many figures which are all carried out in a very good way ”. According to the preparatory drawing, the altar was to have a gilded wooden structure in the fashion of sixteenth-century carpentry, unfortunately dismembered in 1710 when, in honor of the canonization of Pius V, a new high altar in marble was erected (still present today). However, a good number of the paintings that were part of it, including the main work the “Last Judgment”, are still preserved in the church of Santa Croce.

Art-Test Firenze had the pleasure of carrying out an articulated diagnostic campaign on two of the panel paintings in the church of Santa Croce: the one depicting the “Adoration of the Magi” and the one depicting the martyrdom of St. Peter the Martyr. The investigations, with the exception of the chemical ones on micro-sampling, were of a non-invasive optical type: IR scanning reflectography, Multilayer (Art-Test patent), multispectral UV fluorescence, multispectral color and IR, thermography, digital radiography, fluorescence X-ray, 3D survey, FTIR and stratigraphic analysis. The synergy between the different analyzes made it possible to collect those data and information that the direct vision of the work does not give, but which are crucial in the design and then execution of a well-organized restoration intervention.

The “Adoration of the Magi” (1566-67) was the first work commissioned for Bosco Marengo with which Pius V probably wanted to test the painter’s skills. On 25 January 1567 the panel was finished and in the following February it was sent to Rome so that the Pope could see it before it was sent to the church of Santa Croce. It is a complex composition, crowded with characters drawn from a rich repertoire, characterized by rich ornaments, elaborate drapery and refined luministic and chromatic effects, a true expression of the artist’s virtuosity. The central pivot of the scene are the Madonna and Child in the foreground with the kneeling Magi. The work was in rather problematic conservation conditions, such as the great deterioration of the pictorial film, probably due to humidity. From the analyzes emerged the numerous repaintings of the restoration interventions to which it was subjected as early as the eighteenth century. A micro-sampling was made necessary, an invasive examination but crucial to know the preparation and study its composition.

Identification of the Smalt Pigment obtained via multispectral imaging analyses, overlaid on the Infrared refelctography image

The support was analyzed also under grazing light, while FTIR was used to understand the board preparation, which was based on gypsum and animal glue. Thanks to the infrared scanning with InGaAs sensor, which involved the area of the Holy Family and the Magi, it was possible to detect an underlying drawing made with multiple means and in different parts depending on the degree of progress of the work. Localisation of the areas where the Smalt pigment was used, detected via Multispectral imaging

On the whole, important variations of the painted subject are not identified, but small rethinking of postures and some repentances. The whole work seems to have been completed with great confidence and without the use of cartoons, which suggests the action of the hand of a single master. There have been many pictorial reintegrations over the years for which the palette used was studied with XRF: 20 XRF points and subjected to infrared and false color imaging.

The work depicting the “Martyrdom of St. Peter Martyr” was intended for the rear part of the main altar of the “machine” made by Vasari, to which the painter’s workshop also contributed, for example, the presence of Jacopo Zucchi is almost certain. Some panels of the predella are attributed to him. The episode of the ambush of the Dominican saint occupies the lower part of the scene with a background rich in elements of Nordic derivation. The choice of the episode is not accidental: the figure of Pietro da Verona, who joined the Dominicans in 1221, who was appointed inquisitor for northern Italy by Gregory IX and who fought the heresy of the Cathars, marries the conception Dominican religious of the period of the Counter-Reformation during which Pius V became the supreme Inquisitor of the Church and formed a Holy League with Spain and Venice.

The table retains the sixteenth-century carved and gilded frame with a curved shape. Also on this work, the diagnostic campaign developed on several fronts: the RX investigation for the study of the support, the grazing light for the pictorial film, the FTIR for the preparation and the XRF for the pigments

The writer Vasari talks about his executive technique in his “Memories” and it is known that in the same years in central Italy a certain technical experimentation on binders by artists was widespread and in this case it was the cross sectional analysis in UV light and FTIR to confirm the mixed technique. Underneath the pictorial film, traces of a preparatory drawing emerged but not a the use a cartoon, which suggests a freehand execution. The reflectographic investigation documents the traces of some relevant pentimenti and other minor variations carried out in the course of work with different tools (such as the graphite tip and the brush), elements that suggest the presence of the master during the corrections but also of a valid collaborator in Vasari’s atelier. Martyrdom of St. Peter Martyr, Giorgio Vasari, Bosco Marengo during investigations

The X-ray revealed that the work was “plastered” in same places and that minor repairs were carried out on the support.

In general, however, the extreme technical skill of Vasari’s workshop is confirmed, whose works resist almost unchanged over the centuries.

Results of the analyses have been published in several scientific articles and in : Vasari a Bosco Marengo. Studi per il Restauro delle Tavole Vasariane in Santa Croce, edito da SAGEP

The video of the 3D relief of the “Adoration of the Shepards”, is visible on our  YouTube channel.

Caravaggio escapes from Rome on 28 May, with the accusation of having killed Ranuccio Tommasoni and arrives on 6 October 1606 in Naples, where he immediately receives prestigious commissions, including the painting depicting the “Seven Works of Mercy” for the church of the then new brotherhood of the Pio Monte della Misericordia, where it is still located and where the payment warrant is still kept, indicating that the painter would have been entitled to 370 ducats of the 400 total agreed.

The painter created in a very short time (between the end of that same year and the beginning of 1607) a work that was so appreciated that Monte was forced to prohibit its transfer and sale at any price and to authorize copying only to a few. artists. The large painting will be moved temporarily from its original location only five times in total, both for conservation and restoration reasons and for exhibitions.

The Congregation of Pio Monte was born in 1602 as a secular institution at the behest of seven Neapolitan nobles, including Luigi Carafa-Corona, a member of the patron family of Caravaggio, who were dedicated to charitable works. In 1604, construction began in the chapel of the brotherhood and Caravaggio’s revolutionary style seemed ideal for expressing his great ambitions. It is in fact the first work commissioned for the decoration of the church.

The Seven Acts of Mercy represent the charitable activities of the brotherhood which was mainly aimed at caring for and satisfying the physical needs of the poor: the acts of Christian charity were the means to redeem one’s sins.

The composition is grandiose and theatrically complex: at the top the light outlines the figure of a Madonna and Child supported by flying angels; Maria observes benevolently the figures below which, organized in a complex interlocking, allude to the acts of mercy. Two floors merge into a single space that encloses the human and the divine, creating a scene of great realism and drama.

On the right side of the composition the precepts “to feed the hungry” and “visit the prisoners” are gathered in the figure of Cimon who is suckled by his daughter Pero. Behind him, behind the prison wall, a man appears carrying a corpse, of which only the feet are visible, followed by a priest in a white tunic holding a torch to represent “burying the dead” (a work absent in the Gospel di Matteo, but added to the list during the plagues in the Middle Ages and which constituted a public health problem addressed with great concern by Pio Monte).

The scene on the left is occupied in the foreground by an elegant knight with a plumed headdress, Saint Martin, who divides his cloak to give it to a poor man and treats a cripple to allude to “dressing the naked” and “visiting the sick”. Further back is depicted St. James welcomed by the man who stands in front of him who represents “hosting pilgrims”, while Samson, a hero of the Old Testament, drinks from the donkey’s jaw which indicates “to give drink to the thirsty”.

The work represents a cornerstone for the painting of Southern Italy and for Italian painting in general: the Seven Acts of Mercy are in fact depicted in a single bold composition with a powerful emotional impact, with strong contrasts of lights and shadows and an unprecedented excited rhythm.

Caravaggio develops in Naples the stylistic innovations with which he has already caused a stir on the Roman scene. The sacred theme takes on the realistic appearance of the faces of the inhabitants of the alleys of Naples and with equal realism the profiles of things are outlined, from weapons to clothes, from the wings of angels to the flow of water.

The composition appears as divided into two parts thanks to the intense contrasts of brightness: the light and white tones illuminate the right part, directly striking the bodies of the angels and their wings and highlighting the figures of Pero and the priest, while the chiaroscuro and the penumbra envelop the left side. Dark brown is the dominant tone in the architecture and shadows on the left. Ochre, green and grey-green are the colours that most characterize the clothes.

The strong realism and the clear and direct vision of the subjects made thanks to the daring use of light will represent an important point of reference for local painters and will mark the transition from a devout and late-mannerist painting to what will be the season of naturalism in the Naples of the seventeenth century.

Art-Test had the pleasure and honour of carrying out a diagnostic campaign of the work as part of the initiatives promoted by the “National Committee for the celebrations of the IV centenary of the death of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610)” established by Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities with the aim of studying in more depth and in a scientific manner, the artist’s extraordinary pictorial production

Art-Test brought its instrumentation inside the Church of Pio Monte and it was necessary to design a particular scaffolding that was stable and that would allow the Scanner to be brought closer to the canvas and the execution of the Multispectral investigation (IR / UV) at night since it is not otherwise possible to adequately darken the place.

A small sacrifice that was definitely worth it. Staying in contact with the genius of Caravaggio and the possibility of exploring his technique from very close are experiences that have no equal.