5780-2005 Newsletter-v6.indd - Save Venice Inc

Two Men with a Passagefrom Cicero’s “On Friendship”by Jacopo PontormoMarina NahabedSt. Martin and the BeggarSt. Martin and the Beggar is a high-reliefsculpture of Istrian stone that adornsthe doorway of the parish priest’s homeadjacent to the Church of San Martinonear Venice’s Arsenale. The relief figurestell the story of St. Martin, whoperforms an archetypal act of Christiancharity: Martin, a fourth-century Romansoldier serving in Gaul, divides his cloakin two in order to share it with a shiveringbeggar. Christ later reveals himselfto Martin in a dream wearing the pieceof cloak he had given away.The relief, perhaps carved in the1460s, depicts St. Martin on horsebackbetween two trees in the act of cuttinghis cloak for the poor man. The sculpture,possibly once part of the decorationson the previous Gothic Church ofSan Martino, probably was relocatedduring Jacopo Sansovino’s completerenovation of the church in the 1540s.An inscription on the relief states thatthe relief was restored at the will of theparish priest in 1606.By the time the relief was restoredin 2005, the Istrian stone had darkenedand been stained, and small decorativeelements, such as St. Martin’s swordand foot, as well as a tree trunk, hadbroken off and been lost. Under thedirection of Emanuela Zucchetta of theSuperintendency of Monuments andFine Arts of Venice, the Ducale Restaurofirm cleaned the Istrian stone and consolidatedit with resins to prevent furthercracking and breakage. Chemicalanalysis of the stonework revealedno traces of gilding or polychromy.Restoration of the St. Martin relief wassponsored by The James R. Dougherty,Jr. Foundation.Top: The restored relief of St. Martin and theBeggar near the Church of San Martino.Above: The relief of St. Martin and the Beggar,before restoration.Last year, Save Venice sponsored therestoration of Jacopo Pontormo’s painting:Two Men with a Passage from Cicero’s“On Friendship,” perhaps the greatestFlorentine portrait in Venice.The panel, dated 1524, belongs tothe Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Galleriadi Palazzo Cini, in Venice. The timelyconservation enabled the portrait tobe one of the stars of the exhibition“Pontormo, Bronzino and the Medici:The Transformation of the RenaissancePortrait,” held at the PhiladelphiaMuseum of Art from November 2004through February 2005.According to the exhibition’s curator,Dr. Carl Strehlke, who requestedthat Save Venice sponsor the painting’srestoration, “The exhibition deals withportraits by the two Florentine mastersfor the Medici as well as for a closecircle of literary friends living betweenFlorence, Rome, Padua, and Venice fromthe 1520s – 1530s. The portrait ownedby the Cini Foundation shows the importanceof classical studies for these menas they hold a much-beloved passagefrom Cicero’s tract ‘On Friendship,’ thatexalted friendship over all other socialobligations and relationships, includinglove and family ones. This sort of friendshipunited humanist scholars from allparts of Italy. The relations between theliterary men of Venice and Florence wereparticularly close, and cemented by theexchange of not only correspondence,but also portraiture.”Jacopo Carucci, called Pontormo,was born in 1494 in Pontormo, a townin Tuscany. Orphaned, he moved tonearby Florence in 1507, where hestudied with Piero di Cosimo andAndrea del Sarto. Pontormo, who wasinfluenced by Michelangelo, producedsuperlative portraits and religiouspaintings in a distinctive Manneriststyle, known for its dramatic poses andcomplex compositions.Although the palette of thiscomposition is muted, even somber,Pontormo often infused his work withthe vibrant colors common in the workof Michelangelo. While his Deposition(1525 – 1528) in Florence’s Santa Felicità,is alive with pinks, greens, and blues,Two Men with a Passage from Cicero’s “OnFriendship” is molded from an almostmonochromatic starkness that focusesthe viewer’s attention on the over-all graphic shapes of the painting. Thecostumes of the two men almost meld,silhouetting them against the ocherbackground from which their portraitsemerge.This project was the first timeSave Venice has had the opportunityto restore a work by this prominentRenaissance artist who worked primarilyin Florence, where he died in 1556.This painting is also one of the mostimportant portraits of any period everrestored by Save Venice.Detail of the restored Two Men with a Passagefrom Cicero’s “On Friendship” by JacopoPontormo at the Galleria di Palazzo Cini.10 11