Giotto
The Restoration of the Badia Polyptych

edited by Angelo Tartuferi

The book documents the complex restoration work done on Giotto’s Badia Polyptych, now at the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence. The polyptych, completed by Giotto between 1295 and 1300, depicts the Madonna and Child with saints Nicholas of Bari, John the Evangelist, Peter and Benedict; the tondo in the central gable portrays the Blessing Christ, and angels are represented in the other four.

This bilingual edition (Italian and English) was curated by Angelo Tartuferi and has an introduction by Antonio Natali, Director of the Galleria degli Uffizi.
The restoration was conducted with the assistance of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan.
Greatly damaged by the passage of time—like many other works by Giotto—the Badia Polyptych was restored using the latest methods, which are completely non-invasive, in order to restore the work’s original splendour without altering any of its original characteristics. The use of these state-of-the-art technologies marks a watershed in the restoration of ancient works of art. The Badia Polyptych is a sublime masterpiece of 12th-century painting, and the report on its restoration documents all of the aspects of the master’s language. The book was thus written not only for experts in this field but also all lovers and scholars of the history of Italian art.
Thanks to this restoration, the polyptych, which has now been returned to its usual location in the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence, has emerged as one of the works that best documents Giotto’s artistic greatness and the inestimable quality of his oeuvre.

Digital version available on

ita > http://digital.casalini.it/9788874614844