From 29 September next the Bargello National Museum will once again display the large Madonna and Child in papier-mâché by Jacopo Sansovino, which has returned to the Museum after careful restoration carried out by the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro in Rome.
This intervention has restored to the bas-relief much of its original colour, thus considerably enhancing the work of the Florentine sculptor.
The exhibition is organised by the Bargello National Museum with the Ministry for the Cultural Heritage and Activities, and the Soprintendenza Speciale per il Polo Museale Fiorentino, in collaboration with the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro and the “Friends of the Bargello” association, which has contributed to the funding of the initiative.
There are at least another ten known exemplars of Sansovino’s composition, made from a rare and fragile material, housed in various European and American museums. Such a large number of reliefs in papier-mâché is a unique case in the sixteenth century, and the exhibition proposes to explain it with the help of explanatory panels and audio-visual aids, which also illustrate the technical aspects and the restoration.
The return of the Madonna to the Bargello has also been conceived as an opportunity to make a comparison between the work and other exemplars, originating from the Louvre, the Museo del Cenedese of Vittorio Veneto, and the Acton collection from Villa La Pietra (New York University).
On the occasion of the restoration of the work from the Bargello, the Istituto Centrale per il Restauro has launched an experimentation based on 3D digital technology, thanks to which we can ascertain the derivation of the various exemplars from a common model.

A book on the Madonna of the Bargello and its restoration is on sale in the museum bookshop.