Palazzo Barberini exhibits Murillo's Madonna of Milk for the first time after restoration

From May 19 to July 11, 2021, the Madonna del Latte, a masterpiece by Spanish painter Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, will be on display for the first time after a painstaking restoration that lasted nearly 10 months, at the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica in Rome’s Palazzo Barberini.

The restoration work was carried out by the Restoration Laboratory of the National Galleries of Ancient Art, directed by Chiara Merucci, and was carried out by Alessandra Percoco for the canvas and Vega Santodonato for the frame, under the scientific direction of Alessandro Cosma. It was also made possible thanks to proceeds from the sale of Vino Civitas, as part of a project promoted by the Civita Association, in collaboration with Tenuta Caparzo of Montalcino, to support the restoration of works of art in the National Galleries of Ancient Art.

Also known as the Gypsy Madonna, as historian Carl Justi called it in 1892, Murillo’s Madonna of Milk, painted between about 1670 and 1675, is one of the most admired works in the Corsini Gallery (currently closed for renovations). It was in fact part of the collection of Cardinal Neri Maria Corsini (1685-1770), who was so impressed by it that he placed it in the alcove room, opposite the bed, an intimate and private place in his apartment.

Because of the expressive power of the two protagonists, the work was celebrated during the nineteenth century by many travelers who recalled in their diaries, letters and newspaper articles the effect the painting aroused. Among them was Gustave Flaubert, who was so impressed by Murillo’s canvas that he wrote to his friend Bouilhet in 1851, “I am in love with Murillo’s Virgin in the Corsini Gallery. Her head haunts me and her eyes keep passing in front of me like two dancing lanterns.” An image that well highlights Murillo’s ability to actualize and bring alive his subjects, including religious ones.

The cleaning operations carried out have restored legibility to the work, recovering even minute and precious details, from the small buds of the plant behind Mary to the delicate chromatic transitions of the robes and the sky. At the same time, the scientific investigations, conducted by Emmebi diagnostica artistica srl and Artelab srl, allowed for a better understanding of the painter’s technique and the pigments used, as in the case of Mary’s blue mantle: still brilliant in the lapis lazuli parts and irreparably altered where Murillo employed the cheaper “enamel.”

In the course of the restoration, a complete X-ray of the painting was taken for the first time, which made it possible to identify, beneath the current pictorial layer, the figure of a kneeling Saint Francis in a landscape. This first draft, brought to an advanced state of finish, was later abandoned by the painter, who reused the canvas by painting over the Saint Francis without further preparation and even reusing some parts of it, such as the tree for the shadows on the wall or the folds of the habit for Mary’s robe.

To also allow the public to see the original pictorial layer, the work will be exhibited together with a life-size reproduction of the X-ray, which will make it possible to analyze the first draft of the Saint Francis and recognize the small details still visible to the naked eye in the Madonna of Milk.

For the occasion, the volume La Madonna del Latte by Murillo at the Corsini Gallery will be published. History and Restoration (Marsilio publisher), with prefaces by Flaminia Gennari Santori, Director of the National Galleries of Ancient Art, and Giovanna Castelli, Director of the Civita Association, and essays by Pablo Hereza, Alessandro Cosma, Chiara Merucci, Alessandra Percoco, Vega Santodonato, Marco Cardinali and Maria Beatrice De Ruggieri, Domenico Poggi and Anna Candida Felici.

The exhibition Eyes as Dancing Lanterns. History and Restoration of Murillo’s Madonna del Latte is curated by Alessandro Cosma.

Ph.Credit Alberto Novelli

Palazzo Barberini exhibits Murillo's Madonna of Milk for the first time after restoration

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