Banca Toscana to sponsor restoration of Cimabue’s altarpiece “Maestà”

The Ministry of Culture and the Banca Toscana have recently signed a long awaited agreement whereby the bank is to sponsor the restoration of Cimabue’s “Maestà”. The altarpiece, originally painted for the church of Santa Trinità, depicts the enthroned Madonna and Child surrounded by eight angels and four prophets. It has been dated between 1280 and the final decade of the thirteenth century. The condition of the altarpiece is similar in many ways to its two famous neighbours at the Uffizi, both recently restored: Giotto’s Ognissanti Madonna and Duccio’s “Maestà”. The picture has suffered from drastic cleaning operations in the past, and has been retouched at various times with oil-based paints. The wooden panel was tampered with in the last century, probably while it was housed in the Museo dell’Accademia: at that time it was fitted with a hinged iron surround so that it could be swivelled. Unlike Giotto’s panel, the Cimabue has lost its original wooden support. The iron band, together with the turn-of-the-century frame, was fitted directly to the panel itself, constricting it and causing it to split vertically. Alfio Del Serra has been chosen to carry out the restoration.