Da Vinci Row - Press Cuttings

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Experts fear clean up could ruin da Vinci: International art watchdogs warn Italian gallery of legal action over plan to restore unfinished masterpiece
From GUARDIAN June 4th, 2001
By Steven Morris

A group of art connoisseurs which includes prominent British experts is threatening to take legal action to prevent Italian curators having one of Leonardo da Vinci's most revered works restored. ArtWatch has taken legal advice about the possibility of preventing the Uffizi gallery in Florence from restoring The Adoration of the Magi, fearing that it could wreck the masterpiece.

In an open letter to the superintendent of art in Florence and the director of the Uffizi, the group calls for the plans to be halted until the art world has been fully consulted.

Michael Daley, director of ArtWatch UK, said: "We are serious about taking legal action. We have already taken advice - it would be particularly damaging to the museum if it was stopped from carrying out a planned restoration like this."

The painting was left unfinished in 1482 and what remains is a monochrome sketch. The paintwork, which is made up of thin wash-like tints, is extremely delicate. But the restorer, Alfio Del Serro, has suggested that the dark areas of the painting, which many believe are its genius, should be made lighter. In an interview which alerted the art world to the plan, he expressed concern about some "dirty leathery skin" on the surface of the picture which must have formed after it had been revarnished. He said: "In those dark areas of the panel picture, the applications have formed a thick patina and have provoked a brownish tonality which interferes with the readability of the work."

The "readability" of a work is a controversial subject. Mr Daley said: "This concept is springing up at the moment. The idea is that restorers and curators believe they are licensed to work on a painting because they have a duty to provide art to the most people in the most accessible form. "That is terrifying. It gives a licence to popularise, to falsify and to make things brighter and clearer. Da Vinci was the artist above all who used the technique of blurring and confusing and blending edges into shadow. Here we have restorers wanting to clarify what the artist wanted to make ambiguous."

Some critics believe that curators are keen to brighten paintings because the public is so used to seeing clean, bright images on television and in photographs. In the latest edition of ArtWatch UK's magazine, published this week, Mr Daley points out that the art restoration business is booming with money pouring in from sponsors eager to attach their names to such projects. The open letter from ArtWatch, an international art watchdog, is signed by more than 40 distinguished experts including Sir Ernst Gombrich, the author of The Story of Art and an honorary fellow at the Warburg Institute in London. The letter points out that the Louvre has declared that it will notrestore the Mona Lisa because of the fragility of the painting's surface. It added: "We, the undersigned, university professors and art scholars of Italian Renaissance art, are puzzled that the authorities in Florence are apparently not taking this factor into account." In the same issue of the ArtWatch magazine, attention is drawn to the restoration of Da Vinci's Last Supper. Having examined detailed photographs of the restoration, concerns have been raised that much subtlety has been lost from the masterpiece.

(c) The Guardian From THE GUARDIAN, June 4th, 2001

Art experts fight to stop da Vinci's Magi `facelift'
From SUNDAY TELEGRAPH June 3rd, 2001

British-based group will sue to prevent cleaning of masterpiece
BY CATHERINE MILNER Arts Correspondent
Section: News

A LONDON-BASED group of art experts is taking legal action to stop Italian curators cleaning one of Leonardo da Vinci's most celebrated masterpieces, The Adoration of the Magi. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence wants to make the painting easier to see and more "readable" to the public. The organisation Artwatch UK, however, has instructed Italian lawyers to take legal action against the gallery, saying that the cleaning will cause "irrevocable" damage to the painting. In addition, more than 40 distinguished art experts including Sir Ernst Gombrich, the author of The Story of Art, have signed a petition, which will be published this week in the ArtWatch UK magazine, denouncing the Uffizi's plan as "folly".

One of the problems of cleaning The Adoration of the Magi is the delicacy of the paintwork which is characterised by thin wash-like sepia tints. The painting was left unfinished by da Vinci in 1482 - and what remains is the monochrome sketch which underlays all his paintings.

A magazine interview with the masterpiece's assigned restorer, Alfio Del Serra, alerted the art historical community to the plan to clean it. Critics are particularly concerned by plans to lighten the darker sections of the painting. Many say that this is where its charm lies.

"It's ridiculous," said Sir Ernst. "I have not the slightest idea why they want it cleaned. These are the first sketches and first ideas that the master put down with his brush, and who is to say which of these lines were really his?" Mr Del Serra said: "The objective of the restoration is simply to recuperate its complete readability, which in some places is completely clouded over." He is concerned with some "dirty, leathery skin formed by pseudo re-varnishings". He said: "In those dark areas of the panel picture, the applications have formed a thick patina and have provoked a brownish tonality which interferes with the reading of the work."

Prof James Beck, who is leading the campaign against the scheme, said: "The idea of `readability' is a highly dangerous operative principle. In the first place is the question of whether an unfinished work like The Adoration of the Magi is `readable' anyway. "Cleaning this picture is like a 70-year-old person having a facelift. In a dark room it might look all right, but it would look pasty in the light. This rhetoric of `getting back to the original and making it available to the public' is a myth. "The real issue is philosophical. We are used to seeing bright images on television and everywhere else, but do we really want the paintings of the past to be modernised? Are they going to be kept forever young - like everything else?"

One of the main problems with cleaning The Adoration is that da Vinci, like many Old Masters, built up the picture in layers of varnish into which dry pigment had been mixed. By cleaning off the varnish, argue members of ArtWatch UK, much of the subtlety and depth of the picture would be lost. Prof Beck said: "This is not a minor matter. Our goal is to have an international debate. We'll readily go to court if the Uffizi goes ahead with the cleaning."

Art Scholars Protest Plan To Restore A Leonardo
From NEW YORK TIMES May 23rd, 2001
By CELESTINE BOHLEN

More than 30 scholars of Renaissance art, including some of the top names in the field from the United States and Italy, have signed a petition urging the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to postpone a planned restoration of ''The Adoration of the Magi,'' an unfinished painting by the young Leonardo da Vinci. The petition is being circulated by James Beck, a Columbia University professor whose earlier crusades against the cleaning of Michelangelo's frescoes in the Sistine Chapel and other high-profile restoration projects have made him a bete noire of the international art establishment. But this time Mr. Beck has picked up formidable allies from among his former critics and skeptics. Several petitioners said their main concern was the vulnerability of the Leonardo painting (1481-82), which in its unfinished state is too fragile to undergo the rigors of a restoration, or consolidation and stabilization in the language of art restorers. With its intricate scenes and finely drawn and incomplete figures, they said in their open letter to Italian cultural officials, this painting requires special research.

''This particular work is basically underpainting, about which we don't know a lot,'' said James Ackerman, a professor emeritus at Harvard University, in an interview by e-mail. ''Conceivably, exceptional care has been taken by those assuming the responsibility, but given the number of past mistakes I see no harm in demanding a demonstration that the highest standards are to be applied.''

Mr. Beck, who heads ArtWatch International, an organization that monitors the treatment of artworks wordwide, said this latest campaign marked a shift away from the once unquestioning view held by many scholars and curators of restoration projects. ''These restorations are getting out of hand,'' he said in an interview. ''This shows that finally the art-historian community is worried, but also that the museum people have lost touch with reality, restoring everything under the sun.''

Stung by the public criticism that hit Italian newspapers before it landed on her desk, Annamaria Petrioli Tofani, director of the Uffizi, insisted in a telephone interview that the need for careful restoration of the picture had been established. And a number of scholars and curators said they were skeptical of Mr. Beck's rush to criticize. ''The proper nexus for making these judgments is informed and specialist examination between conservators, curators and historians,'' Martin Kemp, a leading British expert on Leonardo, said by e-mail. ''Neither I nor any of the signatories is in a position to make these judgments.''

The petition has stirred a longstanding debate about the advisability of restoring aging works of art, in which each side accuses the other of advocating malpractice. ''We cannot accept the idea that masterpieces cannot be touched,'' said Ms. Petrioli, who uses her maiden name. ''That is the same as saying a person is seriously ill, and you are not allowed to treat them.'' Mr. Beck said that paintings, like patients, should be operated on only when they were sick and, even then, only after a second opinion. ''If there is a conservational emergency, if the paint is falling off, if there are termites, fine,'' he said. ''But if there is no real loss, why run the risk?''

In their open letter the scholars cited the decision of the Louvre in Paris not to restore Leonardo's ''Mona Lisa,'' noting that ''The Adoration'' was more fragile. ''Anything done to this picture could become a disaster,'' said Leo Steinberg, a professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania. ''It is so delicate. Many areas are not painted at all. It is the most marvelous example of a work of art in progress.''

Others, including Mina Gregori, a leading Italian art historian based in Florence, take issue with the Uffizi for not seeking outside opinion on a project as sensitive as ''The Adoration.'' ''Certainly it is dirty,'' said Ms. Gregori of the painting. ''But that is not a reason not to consult with others on whether such a restoration is necessary.'' Ms. Petrioli said this week that she had no intention of interrupting plans for the restoration by Alfio Del Serra, who has been called the king of restoration at the Uffizi by the Italian press. ''Everything is ready,'' she said. ''It is a matter of days.''

Ms. Petrioli noted that ''The Adoration of the Magi'' was the third painting at the Uffizi by Leonardo or partly by him to be selected for restoration in the last decade. Like other paintings on wooden panels, she said, the ''Adoration'' had suffered from environmental changes, brought on in part by the hot breath of millions of visitors, that have weakened the adhesion of the painted surface to the aging wood. Another task for the restorer, she said, is to remove coats of varnish that are ''not only dangerous for the health of the painting but which conceal many important details.''

The other two paintings by Leonardo or partly by him at the Uffizi that were recently restored, ''The Baptism of Christ'' (by the Verrochio workshop; Leonardo is said to have painted the angel on the far left and part of the landscape) and ''The ''Annunciation,'' have been returned to their places on the Uffizi walls. Their restoration was sponsored by an Italian food-distribution company. Ms. Petrioli said she was not ready to disclose the name of the sponsor of ''The Adoration.'' Eve Borsook, an expert on art conservation and associate researcher at the Villa I Tatti, an estate outside Florence owned by Harvard, has questioned the role of sponsors in the choice of paintings to be restored. ''There is the problem of sponsors who only want masterpieces,'' she said. ''There are heaps and heaps of pictures that have urgent needs. It is a question of priorities.''

Ms. Borsook, who has been consulted on other restoration projects in Italy, said that in the past restorers were encouraged to be more self-critical about their work. In recent years, however, she said, the tendency has been to close off debate. ''Nobody likes to speak out because then they won't get any jobs afterwards,'' she said.

Ms. Petrioli said that none of the petitioners, including those who live and work in Florence, had approached her to discuss the restoration, which was first publicly discussed in 1992, when the first thorough analysis of the painting was published. ''It is very astonishing, this behavior,'' she said. ''If they had come all together to the Uffizi, to have a meeting to discuss these things, we would have been ready at any moment. But what is really astonishing is that they are talking about something that they don't know anything about.''

From TIMES ONLINE SERVICES, May 23rd, 2001

Row over unfinished Leonardo
From THE TIMES May 1st, 2001
Richard Owen

Art experts have appealed for the suspension of plans to restore one of Leonardo da Vinci's most celebrated paintings, the unfinished Adoration of the Magi. In an open letter to Antonio Paolucci, Superintendent of Fine Arts in Florence, and Anna Maria Petrioli Toffani, Director of the Uffizi Gallery, 21 experts on Renaissance painting said that the restoration presented "unique philosophical and methodological problems". Michael Daley, of ArtWatch UK, said that restorers often felt under pressure to "divine the intentions of the artist". In the case of an unfinished masterpiece, this was "hazardous in the extreme".

The oil-on-wood painting was commissioned in 1481 by the monastery of San Doneto at Scopeto, but Leonardo abandoned it after falling out with the monks. It is regarded as revolutionary in its style, symbolism and use of light and shade and it had a profound influence on other Renaissance artists.

(c) Times Newspapers Ltd, 2001

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