For the year 2013 the Bargello National Museum has organised a show focusing on some of the most important recently-completed restorations of works from the collections, made possible by the generous collaboration with the Bargello of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure  and “Friends of Florence”.

Displayed in the first room of the exhibition is the large French-Flemish tapestry from the Carrand Collection,  produced around 1480 in the manufactory of Tournai, striking for its impressive size, spectacular colours  and lively narrative. The cartoon, attributed to the Master of Coëtivy – an illuminator, painter and designer of stained glass – illustrates the Final Assault on Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus in 70 AD, as narrated by Flavius Josephus in The Jewish War. Starting in 2008, the monumental tapestry (4.32 x 4.02 m), has undergone  a complex restoration operation entrusted to the Tapestry Workshop of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, under the direction of Clarice Innocenti, financed by the Opificio’s own funds and by the Superintendency, the “Arcus” project of the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage, the Ente Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze and the Lions Club Firenze Bargello. Also on display, for the purpose of comparison, are four French ivory Mirror Cases, dating to the fourteenth century from the Bargello collections, which show considerable compositional affinities with the scenes portrayed in the tapestry. A video has been produced by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure to illustrate to the public the most interesting phases of the restoration and the technique used to execute the work. Informative panels and devices allow visitors to appreciate the work in its various aspects and also the conservative restoration, performed using the most advanced technologies accompanied by the great experience and expertise inherited from tradition. A monographic catalogue illustrating the restoration, edited by Clarice Innocenti, will be financed by the Opificio delle Pietre Dure.

Displayed on the side walls of the room is an extremely varied selection of jewellery and enamels of the greatest artistic value from the Bargello collections,  recently restored by the Opificio. This has been done with a view both to the valorisation of the extraordinary exemplars of applied arts contained in the museum which are not well-known to the general public, and as a witness of the indispensable role played by the Opificio in the conservation of the Florentine museum collections of all artistic categories.

The second room of the exhibition is entirely dedicated to the presentation of the large high relief in polychrome terracotta by Dello Delli, portraying the Madonna and Child Enthroned with Angels (circa 1420), financed by the “Friends of Florence” and executed by the restoration studio of Anna Monti over the last two years. The artist is one of the most intriguing and mysterious of the early fifteenth century, and the work is of particular significance and interest in relation to the exhibition devoted to Renaissance sculpture currently being held in Palazzo Strozzi and moving on to the Louvre in the autumn. In the room, explanatory panels and a video produced by the “Friends of Florence”, will illustrate to visitors the history of the work and all the phases in its restoration.

This initiative has been supported and made possible by a generous contribution from the Association “Amici del Bargello” onlus.

The exhibition has been organised in memory of Maria Grazia Vaccari, former Director the Sculpture and Terracotta Department of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure  and Deputy Director of the Bargello.