Leseprobe

22 Polychromed Silver Bust Reliquaries Andrea Cagnini | Monica Galeotti | Simone Porcinai | Alessandra Santagostino Barbone | Mattia Mercante Polychromed Silver Bust Reliquaries Material and Technical Characterization Bust reliquaries represent an outstanding aspect of the goldsmiths’ art starting in the Middle Ages. 1 Among these, polychromed silver ones are very widespread. Remarkable examples are the reliquaries of Saint Peter and Saint Paul from the Lateran Basilica in Rome and the bust of Saint Agata fromCatania Cathedral, made by the Siena goldsmith Giovanni di Bartolo between the end of the fourteenth and the beginning of the fifteenth century. 2 These artworks were probably born in the context of the medieval workshop, where artists specializing in different techniques worked together, creating a stimulating environment for experimentation. 3 Bust reliquaries arose from similar wooden objects in the fourteenth century, inspired by the martyrdom of Saint Ursula, and they are meant to keep together the naturalness of the painted «incarnato» and the nobleness of precious metals, enamels and gems. Later on, during the Counter-Reformation, the Catholic Church strongly sup- ported worshipping saints and relics and encouraged the production of reliquaries. 4 This later production also included reliquaries with painted surfaces, such as the reliquary of Saint Venera in Acireale and Saint Barbara in Paternò, both in Sicily. In later centuries, polychromy applied on silver was often considered not to be original and sometimes it was removed in restoration interventions: this is the case of the bust of Saint Benedict from the Purification Church in Saint-Polycarpe, France. In this paper, three silver reliquaries, restored at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, were examined from a technological and material point of view to gain more information on this particular kind of artwork. The most ancient one is the reliquary of Saint Ursula, from the Pinacoteca Comunale in Castiglion Fiorentino. The second reliquary is the head of Saint Erasmus, an artwork of Neapolitan manufacture made in the fourteenth century, owned by the Museo Diocesano in Gaeta. These two artefacts exhibit paints on silver. The third one, namely the reliquary of Saint Vittoria from the Museo Diocesano in Agrigento, seems to be different from the other two, as it is made of a copper-based alloy, but our investigation revealed that the upper polychrome layer was laid on a silver substrate.