The restoration of the splendid painting of the Solar System on alabaster and its frame is complete. The alabaster slab presented a horizontal lesion passing through about half of its height. The corner of the bottom left showed signs of a coarse gluing intervention of several fragments together. The various portions were separated, cleaned of residual glues and stuccoes, and then glued with an effective but reversible and chromatically stable adhesive.

During the cleaning, there was an overall removal of superficial deposits. It turns out that a previous intervention covered most of the original with a repainting that partially modified the landscape and the subjects depicted. Photographs documented all the little and localized surveys conducted. Due to the unknown state of conservation of the original, the restorers reintegrated the repaintings to evaluate how to proceed after a thorough historical and artistic analysis. They repaired the lesions of the alabaster slab and recovered the colors of this remarkable and rare artwork. Now, we know the details of the refined pictorial technique used. Of great satisfaction was, for example, the recovery of the area depicting the telescope held by the female figure (Allegory of Astronomy) in gold, which resembles Galileo Galilei’s type of telescope.

Also, the utilization of the alabaster stimulated our observations and studies. The material is, in fact, very particular for the transparent characteristics, often utilized by artists to obtain unique effects. An example is the Sun, with a light positioned on the back instead of the front. It’s possible to appreciate the shading that would otherwise be invisible with solar light. From this starting point, we will deepen the study of the work. It will also help us understand if the interesting execution techniques aim to give a specific use to the object.