Madonna and Child

Madonna and Child is a wooden sculpture measuring 176 cm in height, dating to the second half of the 14 th century. The Madonna is shown wearing a red tunic embellished with embroidery, with golden borders; she is wrapped in a veil, white on the inside and blue on the outside, with gilded edges executed with gold leaf applied with the “a guazzo” technique. The Virgin has noble and elegant features and wears a crown on her head; she holds the Child in her arms, who in turn caresses a dove. With her other hand, the mother supports a voluminous open book, customary iconographic symbol of the future already written in the sacred text.
The restoration, completed towards the end of 2025, was conducted thanks to Save Venice Inc. and Christopher Todd Page, under the supervision of the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio per il Comune di Venezia e Laguna (Office for the Protection of Architectural, Natural, Historic, Artistic and Ethno-Anthropological Heritages in Venice and Its Lagoon).

THE HISTORY

Purchased in 1960 by Vittorio Cini from the Florentine antiquarian Giovanni Salocchi, the statue has always been kept in the Gallery of Palazzo Cini at San Vio. A few years later, the Madonna was attributed to 14 th -century Florentine craftsmen, later identified with the circle of sculptors Alberto Arnoldi and Giovanni di Ambrogio. Subsequently, the attribution shifted to an Abruzzese author.

THE RESTORATION

The analyses carried out during the restoration are important, as they reconstructed the conservation history of the sculpture: the Madonna was originally dressed in a white mantle and tunic, decorated with gilded pastiglia. The statue was found compromised in numerous areas and bore traces of invasive interventions that had altered the chromatic scheme.
Therefore, the restoration required disinfestation, consolidation of the wooden elements, cleaning of the surfaces, retouching and final varnishing.