Restoration hardware

SU alumnus shares experiences repairing Michelangelo painting

By: Kate Brunkhorst

Posted: 10/3/08

When Diane Kunzelman shines intense light on Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, she said it's almost as if the brushstrokes are invisible. But technological advances have enabled art conservators like Kunzelman to better restore pieces to their original beauty.

Students and staff gathered Thursday afternoon in the Life Sciences Complex Auditorium for a presentation by Kunzelman, a Syracuse University alumnus and renowned painting restorer. She shared her experience involving the restoration of one of Michelangelo's masterpieces: the Doni Tondo, a portrait of the Holy Family.

The lecture is among several events included in the series "Rethinking Michelangelo," presented by the College of Visual and Performing Arts and SU Abroad. The series accompanies "Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth," which is the current SUArt Galleries exhibition running through Oct. 19.

Kunzelman is currently a conservator at the Uffizi Gallery and a professor at the SU Florence Center. She explained that renovation of the piece largely involved "imprinting" rather than "retouching." Retouching is a term that art conservators attempt to avoid today, she said. Conservators are no longer painting over works to restore them, she explained, but rather filling in places where paint is no longer present.

The Doni Tondo is the only remaining wood paneling that was originally created by Michelangelo. It is believed to have been painted for the marriage of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi because it is marked by the Strozzi family coat of arms in the frame. After passing through several hands, it went to the Uffizi Gallery.

It was taken briefly to a restoration lab in 1968 after damaging floods in 1966. Kunzelman restored the painting in 1985. She said she chose to restore Doni Tondo because it was in the frame that Michelangelo had originally crafted. The Doni Tondo was separated from its original frame during the Enlightenment period, but it was later reunited after the realization of its importance to the piece as a whole.

Before a painting can be restored, it must be studied, observed and investigated from an archival standpoint, Kunzelman said. The Doni Tondo stood the test of time because of Michelangelo's construction of the frame. The frame was supported with a batten made of coniferous wood. It was constructed of pear wood because fruit woods are advised for optimal carving, she explained.

New technologies have combined with previous restoration practices to revamp the practice of fine art conservation, Kunzelman said. These include infrared scanners, which help detect "paint-outs" and possible under-drawing.

Before renovation, X-rays of the painting suggested the presence of air bubbles. An infestation of wood-boring beetles had left several thousand holes in the five sculpted heads on the frame. White bumps protruded from the base layer because of the stucco Michelangelo used to smooth his surface. Micro-cracking was apparent on the finish.

Canvas pieces were inserted over joints and knots to restore a level surface. Kunzelman and her team also had to remove layers of dark and streaky varnish from past attempts to restore the five-panel wood painting.

Kunzelman's presentation included video footage of the restoration. Much of the old varnish was removed using a precise surgical blade and simple swabs were dampened in distilled water to remove residual dust in a point-by-point cleaning. No matter the method, Kunzelman stressed the importance of non-invasive testing and restoration when it comes to all forms of fine art.

"Showing people how these things are done, why they were done, on the basis of a scientific investigation is fundamental to our profession," she said.

One of the shortcomings of art restoration is lack of public knowledge about the process, Kunzelman said. She conveyed that new technologies and appreciation for the restoration of fine art needs to be exposed to the public - otherwise, some of the world's most valuable and rare pieces could fall into disrepair.

"If the work is brought to the public's attention and to the attention of experts," she said, "it's a way of communicating necessity for fine art restoration."

kebrunkh@syr.edu