“The story of this altarpiece is an exemplary story, it tells of how our Art Gallery managed to bring together such important works”. The director of the Pinacoteca di Siena, Axel Hémery, described with these words the latest operation successfully completed, which was officially presented to the public yesterday morning, namely the recomposition of the Altarpiece of the Master of Observance.
An operation made possible thanks to the collaboration with the Amici della Pinacoteca di Siena association, the support of Pianigiani Rottami and the Rotary Club Montaperti, in a synergy that allowed the masterpiece, created by the Sienese painter active between 1425 and 1450, to definitively enter the museum’s heritage, finally bringing together the altarpiece which depicts the Madonna on the throne, with the child standing between Sant’Ambrogio and San Girolamo, with the predella where the Crucifix is represented in the centre, with the mourners and the sides the episodes of Saint Ambrose driving out the Arians and Saint Jerome penitent in the desert.
“A reconstruction work that does justice to the quality of the work – underlined the director of the Pinacoteca – and which allows us to exhibit an absolute masterpiece of the Sienese fifteenth century. Another result obtained thanks to the collaboration with other bodies and with the association of the Friends of the Art Gallery, and also thanks to the autonomy of the Art Gallery itself, which as an autonomous body can now move more quickly when it comes to operations of this type”.
The initiative was born from a project conceived by Alessandro Bagnoli. To recompose the two parts of the altarpiece it was necessary to reconstruct some portions of the architectural carpentry, relying on the project of the architect Simone Lucii, supported by Elisabetta Belli, which was created by Stefano Butti and his son Daniele. The operations took place under the careful supervision of Elena Pinzauti, restorer of the National Art Gallery, and the mediation of the Archdiocese. A true symphony of entities that collaborated to return to the city of Siena another valuable piece to be included in the museum’s collection that tells its artistic history.
“A truly important moment – added the president of the Friends of the Pinacoteca, Donatella Capresi – in a program that this year we have decided to dedicate to Sienese painting of the fifteenth century”.
