Winter 2023

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Above: A post-grad student restores codex from Florence’s National Library 1300s, in parchment – the support used for writing in Europe before the arrival of paper. Parchment, you’ll remember, is made from animal skin, not plant fibres, hence its recognisable thickness. “She is unsure whether these pages were made from a lamb or an adult sheep, but its fur follicles are still visible, despite the parchment’s smoothness,” Calza explains. “We chose to show you these choir-book pages which contain Laude, or sung praises, honouring history’s holy women. This codex is from Florence’s National Library and was once part of Santa Spirito’s collection,” Calza adds. “Rather than in Latin, it was written in ‘the vulgar tongue’, since it was produced not long after Dante made his revolutionary decision to write his Divina Commedia in the volgare [the Florentine dialect that later became the national language of Italy.]” During our journey through the centuries, this all-woman team of experts and students have one challenge in common: paper and parchment are among the most delicate artworks ever produced. 46 Restoration Conversations • Winter 2023
Their extreme reactivity is culprit. Temperature changes, humidity and the lack of a ground layer, as with painting, makes organic paper highly susceptible to cupping and cracking. Finally, we reach Maria Luisa Raggi’s 21 temperas from the Museo Civico di Prato, set out on a high table. Their attributions are new, from 2012. The growing number of Raggi attributions is largely thanks to Lollobrigida’s copious research. “The grand tour was fashionable in Raggi’s time and noble persons at the time would start their Grand Tour of the Mediterranean in Rome, before travelling further, even as far as the northern shores of Africa,” Calza explains. “They would immerse themselves in the landscape of Rome, fascinated by its wealth of ruins. Using very immediate brush stokes, Raggi was able to create a sense of gentleness, but also reality, because this is probably how people lived at the time, merging with nature, which was very ‘Arcadian’, in that they depict that idyllic world known as ‘Arcadia’, that painters and poets sought to recreate in their works.” It is useful to note that Raggi was painting during the onset of the Industrial Revolution, followed by the French Revolution, when ancient ways of life began to give way to the modern world. Her luminous tempera works are reminiscent of an era that was no more, even at the time she was painting it. “Raggi depicts pastoral and bathing scenes and landscapes reminiscent of the Latin poets,” Calza notes. “They capture everyday life and the passing of seasons. Her figures are working the land, basking in the summer sun, or busy with the harvest. She paints an ancient Roman soldier gazing a pond, a peasant leaning on his staff, a woman bitten by a snake – who appears to be dancing, but is actually running. In the distance, her scenes continue down meandering roads, and the more we look, the more we find new stories to tell.” For me, Raggi’s whimsical scenes exude a degree of whimsy and delight that defies their size. But for everyone, I believe Calza’s last comment is indicative of the whole Opificio experience: the more we look, the more we find stories to tell – new and old. No matter their age these art-based tales and the works they engendered are forever striving to stand the tests of time. LINDA FALCONE Above: Postgrad student Sabrina mixes pigment All photos by Bunker Film, Calliope Arts Archive Winter 2023 • Restoration Conversations 47
Page 1 and 2: Restoration Conversations ISSUE 4,
Page 3 and 4: From the Editor Today’s women, fe
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS WINTER 2023 MUSIC AND A VO
Page 7 and 8: Richard agreed to come to her next
Page 9 and 10: From left to right: Top row: Fanny
Page 11 and 12: Left: Winnaretta Singer’s selfpor
Page 13 and 14: organic process to the way we found
Page 15 and 16: The Words We’d Like to Meet Schol
Page 17 and 18: From your description, Smedley’s
Page 19 and 20: and songs for suffrage. Perkins Gil
Page 21 and 22: In explaining how Price went from r
Page 23 and 24: Mendelssohn, was the centrepiece of
Page 25 and 26: “You oughta be in pictures” Ban
Page 27 and 28: Opposite page: Maryla Lednicka-Szcz
Page 29 and 30: Not far away, is another matronly f
Page 31 and 32: Above and right: Woman Sitting on t
Page 33 and 34: What does Eleonora Toledo, a Spanis
Page 35 and 36: Fotografico Il Cupolone, whereby th
Page 37 and 38: Like many women artists of centurie
Page 39 and 40: up’ their sitters, so to speak, w
Page 41 and 42: Opposite page: Trieste: Yugoslavian
Page 43 and 44: Above: A Maria Luisa Raggi tempera
Page 45: of them young women, with wise hand
Page 49 and 50: The Big Reveal Florence exhibition
Page 51 and 52: four centuries ago, the restoration
Page 53 and 54: Above: The Gallery ceiling at Casa
Page 55 and 56: Winter 2023 • Restoration Convers
Page 57 and 58: Left: Buonarroti the Younger’s ac
Page 59 and 60: Opposite page: ‘Artemisia UpClose
Page 61 and 62: Opposite page: A happy group of fri
Page 63 and 64: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker Lavinia F
Page 65 and 66: scenes happening in the background
Page 67 and 68: (see feature on p. 66) there is a l
Page 69 and 70: The Star of the Show Lavinia Fontan
Page 71 and 72: satisfaction. In one retelling it w
Page 73 and 74: COMPARISONS AND CRAFTSMANSHIP The n
Page 77 and 78: and new research can be studied and
Page 79 and 80: painters, but self-portraiture form
Page 81 and 82: Curator Sergio Risaliti speaks ‘C
Page 85 and 86: But what of her method, I ask, and
Page 87 and 88: Above: Installation shot of Paula R
Page 89 and 90: Catherine represent theological lea
Page 91 and 92: ook’s blank pages as symbolic of
Page 93 and 94: Women at Work Portraits in Words an
Page 95 and 96: Above: Mary Somerville by James Ran
Page 97 and 98:
scientific advancement, it is not s
Page 99 and 100:
A day in the life... Crafters Jane
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Winter 2023

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