Padua, Giotto's original paintings resurface in Basilica of St. Anthony

Important results are coming from the ongoing restoration of Giotto ’s (Florence?, c. 1267 - Florence, 1337) frescoes in the Chapel of St. Catherine (or of the Blessings) in the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua: the fragments of the chapel (these are effigies of some saints) are, together with some scenes in the Chapter House, what remains of the frescoes that the artist executed inside the Basilica del Santo. The restoration of these important frescoes began in April: it is an intervention aimed at consolidating the state of preservation of the Giottesque paintings, which were already ruined at the beginning of the 20th century and, following a restoration, were then reintegrated and repainted in a restoration dating back to 1923 and carried out by Giuseppe Cherubini, who not only completed the missing parts, but also updated according to the taste of the time the Giottesque originals, a practice not uncommon at the time.

The restoration, which was authorized in November 2020 by Superintendent Fabrizio Magani, is sponsored by the Ente Basilica Sant’Antonio di Padova with the Culture Department of the City of Padua, the University of Padua and the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, and features the scientific direction of Giovanna Valenzano and the execution of Natascia Pasquali (AR Arte) with the technical direction of Cristina Sangati and the supervision of Monica Pregnolato of the Soprintendenza archeologia belle arti e paesaggio for the metropolitan area of Venice and the provinces of Belluno, Padua and Treviso, has already returned some pieces of original painting, never seen before due to the twentieth-century remakes that affected the frescoes. Restorer Natascia Pasquali has in fact conducted the first cleaning plugs on the pictorial surface (the intervention was necessary because the surface itself was flaking and partially detached in several places) and the results, according to the team that is following the intervention, have been surprising. Some parts of the draining were removed and it was therefore possible to trace back to the original pieces of painting: found, in particular, a trace of the original gilding (the one that can be seen now was in fact reintegrated in 1923), and the marks traced freehand on some of the crowns of the saints painted by Giotto. As a result of the cleaning, the iridescence of the robes, the pinks of the flesh tones, and the chiaroscuro have gained greater prominence.

The cleaning follows diagnostic investigations that were carried out by CIBA - Interdepartmental Research Center for Archaeological, Architectural and Historical-Artistic Heritage of the University of Padua, mapping and analysis of the painted surfaces, the latter conducted with grazing light, ultraviolet fluorescence and infrared reflectography. The restoration will also aim to remove the repainting carried out by Cherubini in places where it was affixed over the original frescoes, while it will be left where plaster falls had previously occurred. The Chapel of Blessings has always suffered from conservation problems: as early as 1968, when the frescoes were published (they had, however, been discovered in the late 19th century), intervention was advocated, and then in 2012, when the Emilia earthquake caused several pieces of plaster in a nearby chapel to fall off, the need for intervention was felt very strongly.

Padua, Giotto's original paintings resurface in Basilica of St. Anthony

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