Charity

La Carità by Giambologna, 1578

Basilica della Santissima Annunziata, Florence, Italy

Terra crudo (prior to our restoration believed to be in stucco)

Restored by the MMG Foundation 2021

Head Conservators: Emanuela Peiretti, Paola Rosa.
Scientific Investigations: D.Zikos, F.Petrucci, F.Caglioti, J.Taylor, A.Macherelli, F.Briani, E.Pecchioni, T.Radelet, A.Fialovà, P.Pianigiani, O.Caruso, L.Saccenti, C.Chiarusi.
Art Historian Superintendency Florence: Jennifer Celani, CRCH Alberto Felici.
Fabbrica Palazzo Vecchio: G. Caselli, P. Ferrara, P. Contini, S. Ragazzini, P. Mannucci.

Inspiration

This project was dedicated to Luke Olbrich’s mother, Phyllis Olbrich, who passed away in December 2019. Phyllis was a civil rights pioneer and devout woman of faith working her entire life helping those in need, establishing a privately funded homeless shelter and soup kitchen, supporting hospitals, teaching recently arrived migrants, among many other similar endeavours. The Foundation put out calls to the members of the Bastioni with a broad theme of charity in early 2020, as had become the method for identifying opportunities where conservation was urgent, inspirational and also in which new research, analysis, techniques and treatments could be tested.

This sculpture personifies selfless love and its restoration was funded in part by a legacy left by Ms. Olbrich. The project celebrated maternal care (Phyllis also raised four sons Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) and enduring acts of compassion as essential elements of both charity and cultural preservation.

We also wanted to focus on the need within society at that time (2020-2021) of the need for us all to be charitable. As the COVID pandemic shut down the world, many people lost their lives, and also their livelihoods as work came to a halt. This fact required us to have the courage to reach out and help those in need in small practical ways during 2020. A spirit of charity that would be called upon in short order as thousands of Ukrainian refugees escaping the Russian invasion of their homeland arrived in Italy and Florence specifically.

Motivation and Proposed Restoration Work

We wanted to include Emanuela Peiretti’s moving introduction that explains her inspiration and motivation when she put forward her proposal in July 2020 and idea to restore Giambologna’s Carita

“Charity is patient, charity is kind; charity is not envious, it does not boast, it does not get puffed up, it does not lack respect, it does not seek its own interest, it does not get angry, it does not sing about the evil it has received, it does not rejoice in injustice, but it takes pleasure in the truth. He works everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything. Charity will never end” 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

It’ s time to put re/actions back at the center. In such a complex and difficult historical moment, it is urgent to open up to a new concept of freedom and charity. To counteract the risk of losing an idea. On the common ground of human dignity even within our cities, we must reaffirm the primacy of the person, of man, through careful and conscious actions. The desire to participate in the competition led by chance the choice of the work to be restored towards a sculpture that fully reflects this important concept: Giambologna’s Charity in the Church of the Santissima Annunziata in Florence. The Florentine community manifests a special love and bond for its “Sanctuary”, the Santissima Annunziata, one of the most “Florentine” of the city’s Churches. Its long life is intertwined with many centuries of urban history starting from the thirteenth century up to the present day. This church has always been a religious, political and cultural center of the city and still today it remains a place of worship that is always alive, which preserves an immense artistic heritage, an integral part of the history of Florence. This intervention aims to contribute to returning to the Florentine community a work that, in this particular historical moment of fierce individualism, has an even more important meaning: attention and love for others.

Outcomes

Beyond achieving the objectives set out in the proposal, what made the project all the more exciting were the unexpected discoveries that Emanuela and her team uncovered during the restoration process. One of the most remarkable of these was the reclassification of the Giambologna masterpiece: originally believed, and presented in the proposal, to be a work in stucco — as was widely accepted by scholars — Emanuela and her team early on in their work found that

“Starting from the analyses on two samples, the Department of Earth Sciences of the University of Florence carried out qualitative mineralogical investigation by X-ray diffraction: thus it was discovered that it was not a work in stucco but a rare and fragile sculpture in raw earth.”

This discovery, among others made during the restoration, was made possible thanks to the use of groundbreaking technologies, innovative analytical methods, and collaborations with specialists, including those from the University of Florence and other experts in the field. The project truly advanced our broader mission of supporting conservation, research, and knowledge-sharing.

S.S. Annunziata is both an important church for Florentines — who have gathered there as a community since its founding in the 13th century — and a destination that welcomes visitors from around the world each day, drawn by its historically significant art and architecture. Finally, the project exemplified how new technologies and techniques can enhance conservation and research. The results we documented are now available as a valuable resource to the global conservation community.

Video documentation

Documentation

An Unpublished Giambologna. An Opportunity for Active Protection. Celani et al. 2021.

Printed 2023 in Protection & Restoration 2021 – Newsletter of the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the metropolitan city of Florence and the provinces of Pistoia and Prato

Un Giambologna inedito. Occasione per una tutela attiva. Celani et al, 2021.
Original Italian version