Patrons participate in our mission by financing the adoption of restoration projects that are in our Wishbook or on our website. In 2019, John and Paula Kelly, Minnesota and North Dakota Chapter Patrons, adopted two precious and refined side panels of a lost triptych that required restoration: Saints Paola and Eustochium. They did not expect that their sponsorship, which also funded the preliminary historical and scientific analysis, would lead to the discovery of the lost central panel of this triptych!

Adele Breda, Curator of the Vatican Museums Byzantine Medieval Department, assisted by Anna Pizzamano, believed that the matching St. Paola and St. Eustochium paintings were side-compartments of a Tuscan triptych dismembered centuries ago. The mystery was an irresistible temptation for the Vatican Museums Byzantine-Medieval department, and they set out to find the missing central panel.

Over time, the side panels experienced modifications. The trimmed cusps that come to a triangular point, which made them autonomous works, are visual evidence. Hexagonal lozenges and markings on the posterior side showed inconsistent wood exposure to prove that they once acted as tryptic doors. With this lead, Breda and Pizzamano researched for the lost central element, and started a capillary historical-artistic investigation on the whole production of the unknown Florentine painter known as “The Master of the Straus Madonna”.

Active in Florence between 1385 and 1415, the Master of the Madonna Straus is a painter that takes his name from a precious Madonna preserved at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, donated by the Straus family. By a fortuitous chance, during the restoration of the Vatican panel paintings, in December 2018, the Houston Madonna had been loaned to Rome in a small exhibition at Palazzo Barberini. After Breda and Pizzamano completed an immediate inspection of the exhibition, they concluded, with clarity, that this panel could not constitute the center of the triptych with the two Vatican Saints on either side.

When all hope of finding the central panel was lost, the intuition of Anna Pizzamano led her to the Diocesan Museum of Spoleto. She found a Madonna with Child between two angels that included corresponding iconographic, historical, artistic, and technical elements. However, there were concerns as the measurements of the panel did not correspond. The Madonna painting consists of serious damages from the 1703 earthquake, which may have led to the loss of the lower section and part of the top of the Madonna of Spoleto painting. Therefore, the most fundamental evidence that determined their decision was the comparison between the Madonna of Spoleto and the Madonna with Child and Angels of the Church of Sagginale. Since both are from the hand of the Master of the Straus Madonna, the Madonna from Sagginale revealed, what might have been, the original dimensions of the Madonna of Spoleto before the earthquake. 

Other essential elements convinced the Byzantine-Medieval department to follow their reconstructive proposal and instincts. They carefully investigated the wood essences, pigments, numerous punches (dents), the designs of the fabrics of the robe of Saint Eustochium, the details of the cloth behind the Madonna of Spoleto, and the soft flesh tones in the face.

The careful analysis of these elements would not have been possible without the outstanding restoration work by the Vatican Museums Painting and Wood Laboratory and the Scientific Research Laboratory. The investigation confirmed that the artist’s hand is the same. The modus operandi in the Vatican panels and the Madonna of Spoleto demonstrate similar painting techniques. The restoration of Saints Paola and Eustochium took place in the Vatican Museums Painting and Wood Restoration Laboratory under Chief Restorer Francesca Persegati and her staff. They worked diligently to stabilize the wooden support first. The intervention took place when the restorers glued horizontal crossbars on the back, which created a mechanical constraint against the natural movements of the wood. The addition of sliding aluminum elements fixed directly on the boards balanced the new crossbars. Once they secured the wooden elements of the painting, the restorers shifted their focus to recovering the colors by following the egg tempera technique. They also used gold leaf on the red bolus of the paintings’ background to decorate the edge of the mantle of Saint Paola and the dress of Saint Eustochium. The fluid and gold powder brush includes an organic binder that accentuates the decorations (exotic animals, birds, and plant elements) on the robe of Saint Eustochium. Additionally, restorers removed a layer of surface dirt that obscured the saints because it debased their beauty. Afterward, an application of diluted algae (Algae Funori) made the colors cohesive again.

 

An upcoming exhibition in Spoleto will reunite these Medieval works of art this summer.

To celebrate these exciting discoveries, the Diocesan Museum of Spoleto from June 23 to November 2021 will display the Madonna of Spoleto with its original side panels of Saints Paola and Eustochium. On June 23, there will be a special inaugural ceremony led By His Excellency Renato Boccardo, Bishop of Spoleto, and Dr. Barbara Jatta, Vatican Museums Director.

Although the present circumstances of the pandemic make travel difficult and questionable, we would like to invite all of our Patrons to this historical moment in Spoleto before it closes in November. There is a possibility that the Madonna of Spoleto will eventually be displayed one day in the Vatican Museums together with its two side panels of Saints Paola and Eustochium. Stay tuned. The Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums are especially grateful to John and Paula Kelly. Their generosity permitted this marvelous restoration of these panels which led to this amazing discovery. We would also like to thank Adele Breda and Anna Pizzamano who diligently worked on finding the central panel to Saints Paola and Eustochium, and Francesca Persegatti and her team for their work in the Painting and Wood Restoration Laboratory.