Restored Madonna del Latte Returns to Sant’Ambrogio

The fourteenth-century fresco Madonna del Latte with Child between Saints John the Baptist and Bartholomew has been unveiled once more within the Church of Sant’Ambrogio after a meticulous restoration by Cristina Napolitano, carried out beneath the supervision of the Soprintendenza ABAP of Florence and funded by the non-profit basis Friends of Florence.

The mission, which obtained the 2024 Friends of Florence Award on the Florence Art Restoration Fair, brings again to public view one of many earliest depictions of Saint Ambrose preserved within the church. The restoration removes a long time of overpainting and floor injury, revealing the fragile particulars and color concord attribute of the late Gothic interval in Florence.

Art historians attribute the fresco to the Master of the Rinuccini Chapel, an nameless painter recognized by scholar Luciano Bellosi in 1973 as Matteo di Pacino, lively between 1359 and 1374 and skilled within the circle of Orcagna. The newest conservation work has allowed a better comparability with different identified works by the artist, confirming stylistic options such because the refined modelling of the faces and the delicate use of sunshine within the Virgin’s mantle.

Friends of Florence president Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda stated the muse was proud to return an important piece of Florence’s fourteenth-century heritage to the group, thanking the parish of Sant’Ambrogio and San Giuseppe, the Soprintendenza, and artwork historian Claudio Paolini, who contributed scholarly steerage to the mission.

Paolini famous that the restoration not solely preserves an necessary instance of native devotional artwork but in addition helps reconstruct one other chapter within the metropolis’s creative historical past. Parish priest Don Daniele Rossi added thatthe fresco’s theme—Mary nursing the Child—embodies a deep theological that means, linking the human actuality of nourishment to the thriller of the Incarnation and the Church as a nurturing mom.

The work has had a fancy conservation historical past. Originally frescoed instantly on the wall, it was rediscovered in 1839, restored a number of occasions, and round 1960 indifferent and mounted on a panel. The current intervention eliminated layers of soot, artificial coatings and floor residues, changed deteriorated stucco and built-in losses utilizing calibrated tones to reinforce legibility with out altering the unique construction.

Napolitano described the chance to work on the portray as a privilege and expressed the hope that guests to Sant’Ambrogio will respect its rediscovered magnificence and craftsmanship. The fresco, as soon as once more seen with out scaffolding, stands as a testomony to the enduring dialogue between religion, artwork and look after Florence’s heritage.

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