Cosimo's splendid Panel visible again after restoration

The precious wooden carving by British artist Grinling Gibbons, made between 1680 and 1682 and donated by King Charles II of England to Grand Duke Cosimo III de’ Medici, has returned to Florence and is now on public view. Also known as Cosimo’s Panel, it is an example of Baroque virtuosity that depicts theallegory of friendship between Tuscany and England: in fact, the king wanted to commission it from Gibbons to celebrate the alliance between the two powers, symbolized by the two doves kissing at the top of the composition. The military and artistic power of the two states is symbolized respectively by weapons on one side and by musical instruments, pens and sheet music on the other (as well as by the portrait of Pietro da Cortona that appears in a medallion in the center of the composition: a clear tribute to one of the most representative Tuscan artists).

The work, damaged during the 1966 flood and a fire that occurred in 1984, returns from a lengthy restoration carried out by theOpificio delle Pietre Dure (completed by Maria Cristina Gigli and directed by Laura Speranza): it is now possible to admire Gibbons’ carving in the Sala della Grotticina in Palazzo Pitti, in the Treasury of the Grand Dukes (the same room that housed it at the time of the fire). For the occasion, a new layout for the room has also been designed to enhance this splendid masterpiece of the English Baroque. “This restoration,” said Marco Ciatti, Superintendent of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, “demonstrates the Opificio’s ability to develop innovative techniques in all the various existing artistic typologies, thus combining the moment of research and the operative moment of restoration.”

Pictured: the Gibbons carving before and after restoration.

Source: press release

Cosimo's splendid Panel visible again after restoration

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