Pietà

The restoration of Giovanni Bellini’s Pieta was carried out in the restoration laboratory of the Pinacoteca di Brera between November 2010 and December 2012.

The intervention was necessary because of two main reasons: a crack, which had been affecting the upper area of the painting for some time, causing a noticeable deformation of the surface, was showing signs of instability; moreover, the legibility of the work was strongly affected by the alteration of varnishes, patinas, and retouches applied on the painting in previous restorations.

Careful photographic documentation, and a campaign of diagnostic investigations were carried out, including infrared reflectography, infrared false color, ultraviolet fluorescence, radiography, X-fluorescence, colorimetric spectrometry, and three stratigraphic sections.
By cross-referencing the various results, direct observation, and comparisons with other paintings, it was possible to obtain a significant picture of the execution technique and state of conservation of the work (fig. 3).

Painting technique

The painting consists of two planks, made of poplar wood not of the highest quality, arranged horizontally. The support was originally supported by two crosspieces nailed along the side edges (fig. 4). The board is prepared for painting with two layers of plaster and glue. Near the perimeter edges the plaster is interrupted by detecting a slight “beard,” which suggests the original presence of an applied frame.
On the white preparation the artist drew the composition with a brush in dark ink. The drawing accurately describes the outline of the figures, the folds of the drapery and the expressive features of the faces; the figures are then chiaroscuroed with diagonal hatching of more diluted brushstrokes (fig. 5).
The Pietà is painted mainly with the egg tempera technique, and the pictorial layering consists of the juxtaposition of many small brushstrokes (figs. 6, 7).

The pigments used are lapis lazuli blue with lead white in John’s mantle and on the sky, azurite blue in the Virgin’s mantle and partly in the sky, copper green in John’s robe and in the landscape, and red lacquer with lead white in the Madonna’s red robe, while the incarnations are made with lead white, ochre, cinnabar, and lead yellow and tin. The original haloes were made with shell gold, but they were almost totally removed during previous interventions and redone in the 19th century (fig. 8).

Previous restoration and state of preservation

A restoration in 1863 is recorded in the Pinacoteca’s archives, but previously the work had been heavily tampered with: with the original frame removed, the painting had been trimmed and had undergone aggressive cleaning that had left extensive abrasions of the paint film, stains and gore in the sky, while the Virgin’s blue mantle was furrowed with oblique scratches. These damages had been recomposed with significant repainting of the sky and figures, especially the shadowed parts.
The 1863 intervention was carried out by the famous painter and restorer Giuseppe Molteni. He cleaned the surface of dirt and some of the previous repainting, and retouched the abraded surface with particularly generous glazes on the Virgin’s blue mantle and red robe, in Christ’s face and side, John’s hair, and the sky, in some cases reinterpreting the forms.

Carpenter Giuseppe Draghini took care of the support: he disjoined, straightened and rejoined the boards with glue and “butterfly” inserts, replacing the two original crossbeams with three sliding crossbeams (fig. 9).
Before the restoration, the painting’s state of preservation was not good: some cracks affected the upper area of the painting causing noticeable deformation of the surface, lifts and color falls (fig. 10).
The panel was greatly weakened by severe woodworm erosion and the invasive intervention performed by Draghini, which carried out a damaging action, compressing and blocking the natural movements of the wood. The varnishes and retouches were also so altered that the work was illegible.

Restoration work

The restoration began with the support of the painting; the 19th-century crossbeams were replaced with a system capable of accommodating the movements of the wood. As a result, the panel was able to recover its natural slight curvature, deformations were much improved, and cracks stabilized.
The cleaning of the surface from varnishes and repainting was progressive, with the aim of restoring brightness and legibility to the painting, recovering portions of the original painting without overly insisting on the most abraded areas (fig. 11).

Next, the gaps were plastered and reintegrated in a recognizable way with reversible colors, and a protective coating was spread over the entire surface.
The frame also underwent an overhaul: after surface cleaning, the connection with the painting was modified according to the new curvature of the panel; a museum glass and a protective panel were also applied on the verso (fig. 12).