Camposanto di Staglieno, Genoa, Italy
American Friends of Italian Monumental Sculpture
A masterwork of Italian Symbolist Art Nouveau sculpture, this piece was threatened by pollution and biological growth, causing surface deterioration.
This masterpiece was at risk from neglect and environmental causes
An elegant and graceful Italian Liberty sculpture.
This graceful and beautiful sculpture is unprotected from the effects of the surrounding environment.
Note how ground moisture causes the moss to penetrate and weaken the marble
Treatments with absorbent poultices drew out much of the black crust that was attacking the marble.
Initial cleaning included test cleaning areas carefully with calcium hydroxide.
After three treatments with biocide poultices, the biological growth is subsiding.
Before and after cleaning with hydrogen peroxide.
The restored sculpture.
A key early example of the Liberty Style, the Italian flavor of Art Nouveau.
The gracefully carved face of one of the three sisters
A detail of the beautifully restored sculpture.
A view of the base with the art nouveau inscription.
Leonardo Bistolfi was a sculptor, painter and writer, and the leading Symbolist and Liberty Style (Italian Art Nouveau) sculptor in Italy. His work had a great influence on a generation of Italian sculptors. He is represented in the collections of the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, the The National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, and at the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Turin. The Gipsoteca “Leonardo Bistolfi” in Casale Monferrato, Italy has more than 170 of his works on display.
Signore Bocciardo was in the leather business. He studied in the U.K. and brought many modern innovations and machinery to Genoa for the first time, introducing the English industrial methods.
The Italian government has scheduled a Bistolfi sculpture of Giuseppe Garibaldi in San Remo for restoration this year, for the 150th anniversary of Italian unification. This tomb, called The Resurrection, was dedicated to his wife Elena Bauer. It is a pivotal early example of the new symbolist aesthetic of funeral art, of which Bistolfi was the leading proponent. The plaster model for this work was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1905.
Thanks to our sponsorship, this sculpture has recieved careful cleaning to protect the marble from deterioration caused by the attack of polution and organic growths.
The restoration was carried out by Eleonora Gioventù - Restauratrice di Beni Culturali, Sestri Levante, Italy.