The term "revealed" used in the title is by no means accidental. At the center of the exhibition will in fact be a Donatello which will be added to the catalog of certain works by the Florentine master, the Crucifix of the ancient Paduan church of Santa Maria dei Servi.
Revealed in the attribution but also in substance because, until the restoration wanted by the Regional Director for the cultural and landscape assets of the Veneto Ugo Soragni and carried out by the Superintendence for historical, artistic and ethno-anthropological assets for the provinces of Venice, Belluno, Padua and Treviso with the collaboration of the Superintendency for historical, artistic and ethno-anthropological heritage of Friuli Venezia Giulia in the latter's Udine laboratory, the wooden sculpture appeared with the appearance of a bronze, due to the effect of a thick layer of repainting. Entrusted to the expert care of the restorers Angelo Pizzolongo and Catia Michielan, under the direction of Elisabetta Francescutti, the large Crucifix emerged in all the extraordinary finesse of the carving and in the original colour.
The exhibition, hosted in the scenographic Salone dei Vescovi, it will thus be an historic opportunity to admire for the first time three large Crucifixes that Donatello produced during his lifetime: the one made for the church of Santa Croce in Florence (1406-08) – the subject of a famous competition with the antagonist Filippo Brunelleschi told by Giorgio Vasari in his Lives -, that of the Servants and the bronze one of the Basilica of Sant'Antonio in Padua (1443-1449).
An absolutely unique and unprecedented opportunity to closely observe the three masterpieces, reading through them the path taken by the artist from his youth to full maturity, and to deal with the core of the Christian message through the interpretation that a great artist of the Renaissance gave it during its existence.
The wooden Crucifix of Santa Maria dei Servi in Padua was attributed to Donatello a few years ago by Francesco Caglioti, of the University of Naples, who, on the basis of Marco Ruffini's research, restored the correct paternity to the sculpture, attested by the most ancient but soon forgotten.
The oblivion of Donatello's name can be explained by the particular devotion that the work enjoyed, and still enjoys, especially following the miraculous events of 1512, when on several occasions the image sweated blood from his face and side.
Over the centuries popular memory transferred Donatelli's paternity to the Gothic sculpture of the Virgin always kept in the church, but the special care of the faithful for the Crucifix ensured its conservation, preserving it from destruction or dispersion, a very common fate for this type of carved images.
If at first the attribution, argued by Caglioti on stylistic grounds, aroused some perplexity and an attitude of prudence within the scientific community, today the results of the restoration, carried out with funding from the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and tourism, leave no more doubts.
The removal of the thick faux bronze repainting now reveals all the quality of the carving and the original polychromy, largely preserved, returning to Padua a masterpiece that adds to the other works that Donatello left during his stay in the city (1443 -1453) - the equestrian statue of Gattamelata, the altar and the bronze crucifix for the Basilica of Sant'Antonio - adding a further element in the artist's biographical story.
At the end of the restoration, and before being placed again on the altar dedicated to him in the church of the Servi of Padua, the Crucifix will be exhibited at the Diocesan Museum of Padua, in order to allow the wider public to admire it in the best possible observation conditions. The restored work will be accompanied by exhaustive documentation through which the public will be able to approach in detail the various phases of the restoration and the technical investigations that preceded it, investigations for which a considerable contribution was made by the Conservation and Restoration Center “La Venaria Reale” in Turin.
The exhibition, organized by Diocesan Museum, by the diocesan Cultural Heritage Office and by the Superintendency for historical, artistic and ethno-anthropological heritage for the provinces of Venice, Belluno, Padua and Treviso, is placed under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic and enjoys the Patronage of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Curated by Andrea Nante and Elisabetta Francescutti, it will be set up in the monumental Hall of Bishops, inside the Bishop's Palace of Padua, seat of the Diocesan Museum.
