Verona, restoration of Bernardino India's Allegories at Juliet's Tomb completed

In Verona, restoration work on the Allegories of Verona, Rovigo and Trent by Bernardino India (Verona, 1528 - 1590), one of the greatest artists of sixteenth-century Verona, has been completed: the work, an important fresco, is in the Museum of Frescos at Juliet’s Tomb and comes from a pictorial cycle frescoed in 1555 on the southern facade of Palazzo Fiorio della Seta, commissioned by the Veronese merchant Fiorio dei Flori. The building facing the Adige River was located at the height of the present New Bridge; in 1891, in preparation for its demolition to build the water retaining wall, the paintings were torn off, placed on a new support, and preserved at the Civic Museums.

The restoration on the work was conducted by Anna Lucchini with Francesca Siena and Sara Silva, and the work site was started last March, giving the public the opportunity to see the fresco for the duration of the work: this also allowed for guided tours promoted for the occasion by the Veronese Civic Museums management. Main supporter of the project, with a donation of 20 thousand euros (earmarked, for the year 2019, for the promotion of the G.B. Cavalcaselle Fresco Museum as part of a rich calendar of initiatives organized for the bicentennial celebrations of Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, including, in particular, the restoration of the fresco by Bernardino India), the Inner Wheel Club of Verona - District 206 Italy.

“We are pleased,” says Inner Wheel Club of Verona president Paola Raffaelli Riva, "to be able to offer our contribution to the Civic Museums of Verona on the occasion of an important initiative for the preservation and dissemination of knowledge of the City’s cultural heritage, an aspect that has always distinguished our activity in the Verona area over the years. Our desire is to support projects for the enhancement of Veronese culture, such as the one carried out at the Museo degli Affreschi for the restoration of the fresco Allegories of Verona, Rovigo and Treviso."

Bernardino India’s work depicts a woman in the center, personification of the City of Verona, with at her feet the Adige River represented as an old man with a beard, on the right Rovigo with part of a vase with the inscription “Eridanus,” of which only the letters US remain, and on the left Treviso with three women’s faces as per the Latin etymology of its name, holding the oval coat of arms of the patron with the initials FDF. The painting was part of a trompe l’oeil of grisaille (made by Brusasorzi) two-tone paintings that divided the facade into five horizontal bands accentuating the marking of the planes in imitation of Renaissance palaces with sculptures and low reliefs on the facade. Thanks to a collaboration with Inner Wheel Italia Club of Verona, the City of Verona’s Civic Museums Department will continue its program of initiatives dedicated to Cavalcaselle and the museum’s collections and history throughout 2019.

Pictured, allegories by Bernardino India before and after restoration

Verona, restoration of Bernardino India's Allegories at Juliet's Tomb completed

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