Life

Nativity, by Francesco Gambacciani 1782

Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy

Oil on canavs

Restored by the MMG Foundation 2019

Inspiration

While scoping out the restoration project for The Funeral of Saint Albert at Santa Maria del Carmine, Luke noticed, directly across from the main nave, an oil-on-canvas painting of a very different period and style: a Nativity, depicting the birth of Christ.

Neglected and nearly invisible beneath layers of pollution — the square outside the church having served as a car park for decades — the painting hung in terrible condition. As work began on the Funeral of Saint Albert, Luke and the members of what had now become the Mircea Maria Gerard Foundation felt called to explore the restoration of the Nativity. The symbolism was powerful: to restore paintings of both death and life. It was a conscious decision that would focus the Foundation’s work on celebrating and engaging with life, in memory of the dead.

Motivation / Proposal

With the painstaking restoration of the Monaldi painting underway in late 2016, the members of the Foundation, in consultation with the church’s site managers, resolved to proceed with restoring the Nativity. The work turned out to be an oil on canvas by the Florentine painter Francesco Gambacciani, painted in the Baroque style, as seen in its fluid composition and vibrant colors expressing divine intervention. The painting was commissioned after the catastrophic fire that gutted the Basilica in 1771 (from which the Monaldi painting had miraculously survived), the Nativity was intended as a symbol of hope and renewal for the congregation.

Thanks to the generosity of the Foundation’s supporters, the restoration was entrusted to a talented young conservator, Nicolas Castelli, a member of the Associazione Bastioni, under the guidance of the experienced Natalia Materassi. The Foundation saw this as an opportunity to empower emerging talent: a recent graduate taking the lead on a major project, supported by a seasoned professional. This initial engagement of emerging conservation talent would later inspire the members of the Foundation to set up a programme dedicated to this effort. See Supporting Emerging Talent to discover more.

In late 2018, with the Monaldi restoration just completed, Nicolas and Natalia began work on the Nativity. The canvas revealed severe structural damage — pockmarked with holes and weakened from centuries of careless movement. It required not only meticulous paint treatment but also structural conservation of the canvas itself.

Therefore, to undertake this structural restoration, The Nativity was carefully removed from its altar niche and transported to the Associazione Bastioni’s conservation studios in Florence’s San Niccolò neighborhood. There, thorough research and analysis were undertaken before the restoration proceeded, under the supervision and approval of Maria Maugeri, art historian at the Florentine Superintendency for Cultural Heritage.

Outcomes

While the restoration took place behind closed doors in the Bastioni studios due to the extensive reconstruction work required on the canvas, limiting public engagement during the process, the completed work now serves a very public daily purpose.

The commune of Florence recognized the importance and the opportunity to bring local communities together in cultural heritage conservation when one of the cultural departments ministers overseeing the project wrote:

“We are thankful, as District 1 – said the president of the Cultural Services Commission Mirko Rufilli – for this restoration. We need people with a heart who dedicate themselves to important parts of the city such as Piazza del Carmine and its Church. Also on behalf of the municipal administration I would like to thank the restorers”.

Gambacciani’s Nativity once again inspires prayer, reflection, and votive offerings at one of the Basilica’s most sacred altars. Mircea’s spirit and the spirit of all those who supported the restoration joins in those countless acts of devotion every day and in the future.

Completion of the two masterworks — one celebrating Life, the other Death — now face each other in the main nave of the Santa Maria del Carmine, restored to their original glory. Together they stand as a memorial and celebration of the great circle of life and death — its perfect beauty, its quiet, ceaseless continuity.

Video documentation

Selected Press Coverage

Government of the Region of Tuscany Press Release Announcing Completion of La Nativita

GoNews.it Coverage of La Nativita Completion

Documentation

Project summary for the Nativity by F.Gambacciani signed by accredited conservators/restorers Daniela Murphy Corella ACR and Caterina Canetti. Download project by clicking here

Final Conservation/Restoration report signed by Nicholas Castelli and Natalia Materassi. Download report by clicking here.