The fourteenth-century Palazzo Guinigi was reopened in Lucca this morning (25 May) after long restoration and redevelopment works one of the symbolic monuments of the city: the remains of an important frescoed frieze found in the room above the garden loggia in the north-eastern part of the complex.
The frieze, approximately 1 meter high, occupies the upper band of the walls and is characterized by a monochrome design, with ivory-coloured figures on a light blue background. The wall below the frieze has a neutral plaster with similar characteristics, probably intended to accommodate fine fabrics for decorative purposes. The work has not yet been attributed to an artist, nor have any certain data emerged on its dating. However, from its characteristics and from the research carried out so far on the building, the dating could be placed between the mid-sixteenth century and the first decades of the seventeenth century.
The architectural dating of this part of the complex has not yet been clarified: the loggia overlooking the garden presents typical characteristics of the last decades of the fifteenth century. while the first floor, from the analysis of the walls on via Guinigi. it has been remodeled in the openings and in the upper portion of the walls. The use of the Tuscan order in the staircase and the windows facing the street, typical elements of the late Renaissance style, suggest an important intervention in the sixteenth century. The presence, starting from 1525, of a client like Vincenzo Guinigi, author, according to sources, of expensive works on his properties in the city and, after his death, of his son Tommaso, committed to continuing his father’s work on the properties of family, seems to confirm the dating of the room between the 1520s and the end of the 16th century.
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The execution quality of the plaster is exceptional, so much so that it is difficult to distinguish the days. The materials are chosen with wisdom and the ladle luster workmanship is ‘mirror-like’ over a thickness of just a few millimetres. The mastery of the line is remarkable and the techniques used to transfer the drawing onto the surface are different: dusting, indirect engravings, charcoal and red blood drawing. All these elements indicate the participation of an experienced artist, a workshop master. The analyzes carried out confirmed the presence of a traditional mortar composed of lime and very fine aggregates coming from local watercourses. The pigments used are carbon-based black and “St. John’s white”, while for the blue portions smaltino was used, a blue pigment derived from the grinding of a potassium glass containing Cobalt. Enamel, in use as a pigment since the 15th century, was used in wall paintings by some of the greatest Renaissance artists, including Ghirlandaio, Michelangelo and Raphael.
The restoration and consolidation interventions – followed by the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Lucca and Massa Carrara – involved two halls on the first floor and the entire part of the portico and garden of the complex for a total amount of 1,460,000 euros divided into two lots: restoration and accessibility 1.3 million euros from funds from the Tuscany Region FESR 2014-2020 and preparation of an educational path The Via Francigena and the Volto Santo 160 thousand euros. The remaining floors of the complex, already the subject of previous interventions, were rearranged by the Municipality of Lucca which thus reorganized access to spaces and to famous tree-lined tower for the enhancement of the entire complex.
