Turin, Palazzo Madama launches fundraiser to reunite Guala Bicchieri's hood and its missing enamels

Palazzo Madama-Turin ’sMuseum of Ancient Art has launched a crowdfunding campaign, active from March 28 to Dec. 31, 2024, with the goal of acquiring five Limoges enamels from the Guala Bicchieri hood, a masterpiece of the museum. The five brackets, metal elements with floral decoration in champlevé enamel, were originally part of the decoration of the lid or back of the famous hood of Cardinal Guala Bicchieri (1160-1227), founder of the Abbey of Sant’Andrea in Vercelli, legate of Pope Innocent III, diplomat, bibliophile and collector.

Palazzo Madama houses the masterpiece of Guala Bicchieri’s artistic collections: the precious wooden coffin adorned with gold and enamel medallions, embellished with figures of fantastic animals and profane scenes. This work, donated by the cardinal by testamentary legacy to his abbey, remained in Vercelli until 1824. Later, it became part of a private collection and was finally purchased by the City of Turin and the Piedmont Region in 2004. However, over the centuries, some of the original copper and enamel elements that embellished the hood are now missing. It is presumed that they were stolen during the period when the work was placed in the church of Sant’Andrea in Vercelli, between the 13th and 18th centuries. Among the missing elements are the ten medallions on the lid, the ten that decorated the back, and several brackets and cantonals, also made of copper and champlevé enamel, a decorative enamel technique that consists of depositing enamel within cavities obtained on the metal sheet by customary working processes, and decorated with floral motifs, which lined the edges of the hood.

In 2019, a Parisian antiquarian contacted the Louvre Museum to submit five enamels that he suspected might be related to the Guala Bicchieri hood. Subsequently, the antiquarian contacted Palazzo Madama to offer the five brackets for sale, as they appeared to be identical in size, decoration, and color to those that adorned the hood and thus likely came from this work. In order to test the hypothesis, decorative arts conservator Simonetta Castronovo made a site visit to the French gallery to examine the works and organized a campaign of diagnostic investigations with the Department of Chemistry at the University of Turin, using XRF analysis, a non-invasive technique that allows the chemical composition of the enamel and the techniques used in glassmaking to be determined precisely.
The analysis confirmed that the brackets now in the possession of the Paris gallery match exactly in size and design with those still on the Palazzo Madama’s hood. Moreover, their chemical composition corresponds to that of the enamels on the Bicchieri hood, characterized by a peculiarity unique to Limoges production. Their acquisition would therefore make it possible to relocate them on the back of the hood, now bare, and to recompose the original decoration of the work.
Having resumed negotiations with Paris in late 2023, Palazzo Madama has decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign to finance this significant acquisition. On this occasion, Palazzo Madama will rely on the Rete del Dono platform, through which it will be possible to make donations online.
Thus, the campaign to raise 50,000 euros needed to purchase the missing brackets has been launched, and the deadline to reach this amount is set for the end of December 2024. The campaign will consist of lectures, videos and storytelling. Donations are eligible for the Art Bonus, with tax deductions of up to 65 percent. There are also specific rewards for donors, such as inclusion of their name on the site’s donor wall, complimentary museum admissions, and guided tours of the collections and the building with the Director.

Turin, Palazzo Madama launches fundraiser to reunite Guala Bicchieri's hood and its missing enamels

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