2. Intro to Conservation (AH312) included a fresco lab where the
students created a copies of figures from the Sistine Chapel.
3. Shown here are photographs of the
painting, a fullscale cartoon, and
the wooden frame of the fresco
itself which contains the arriccio,
the first layer of cement that
precedes the painted layer of the
fresco.
4. Shown here is the exposed arriccio of a fresco in San Damiano,
Assisi. In the case of this fresco, the intonaco, the painted layer,
has flaked off revealing the drawing underneath.
5. The paint of the angel’s wings has faded revealing a painted landscape beneath. This
means that Lippi originally painted the angel without wings, although it is unclear
who made the addition. Lippi died while painting this apse meaning that the wings
could be his own addition or that of his assistant who finished the cycle.
Annunciation,
Fra Filippo Lippi;
Santa Maria Assunta,
Spoleto
6. This photograph shows two overlapping fresco decorations. Although frescos are
traditionally painted over a blank layer of slightly coarser cement, here a new
cycle using a later aesthetic has been painted directly over the first layer of
intonaco.
San Damiano, Assisi
7. The marble in the abandoned city was reused throughout the Baroque era to
build contemporary palaces.
Shown here are the
ruins of Ostia Antica, an
ancient Roman port a
few miles outside of
Rome. The town was
gradually abandoned
after the Tiber changed
course in the 4th century
CE.
8. This type of appropriation and reuse
was a common occurrence even before
the 16th century. One of the most
famous examples of Roman reuse is
the Arch of Constantine in 315 CE.
Constantine’s sculptors combined
various first and second century
Roman monuments with
contemporary sculpture.
9.
10. Santa Maria
Assunta,
Spoleto
Shown here is what is known as a Cosmati floor. For example, the large red
circle in the top right was made by re-cutting a porphyry column into disks.
11. San Zeno Chapel; Santa
Prassede, Rome
Roman architecture was also incorporated more directly into new
construction. Shown here is a section of Roman entablature set above two
collumns to frame the entrance to a chapel.
12. Here, above the Roman architecture, mosaics completed during the late eighth
century depict the Virgin and Child, Saints Prassede, her sister St Pudenziana and
their brother Saints Timothy and Novate are represented in the inner ring of
medallions. The outer ring shows Christ and the apostles. During the Baroque era,
Pope Urban VII commissioned mosaic portraits of himself and Pope Paschal I.
San Zeno Chapel;
Santa Prassede,
Rome
13. Pasquino the “Speaking
Statue,” with political posters
pertaining to the 2013
elections; Piazza Pasquino,
Rome, 3rd Century CE
This statue is was unearthed in the 15th century and installed in the this
piazza. In the 16th century for St Mark’s Day Cardinal Oliviero Carafa draped
the statue with a toga and Latin inscriptions. This inspired anonymous
critiques of the pope’s rule to be posted, a tradition that still continues today.
14. The Baroque Church Santa Prudenziana was built over a first century
Roman Insula. The fragments and other artifacts recovered from this site
will be incorporated into a small display about the churches history.
Marble fragments
excavated in a Roman
Insula under Santa
Prudenziana
15. Finally, the majority of Ostia Antia was excavated under Mussolini between
1938 and 1942. At this time, the brick ruins were quickly capped with cement
to prevent the deterioration of the buildings. In the 1970’s, archaeologists
returned to the site and continued to conserve and excavate the city so that
currently about two thirds of the city is excavated and in stable condition.
Ostia Antica
