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Statue's Restoration Reveals Chemistry Of / Cover story / Statue’s restoration reveals chemistry of art Pietà BY ANNE-MARIE WELSH orty-eight years ago this May, a man suffering Today, Gabrielli is 81 and the last surviving member of from mental illness took a hammer into a the team of artists and scientists in charge of restoring the chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Pietà. He recently spoke in Rome with Faith magazine. and bludgeoned Michelangelo’s Pietà. “Some of us were at a conference at the Archaeological erfectionSome onlookers jumped a railing and tack- Museum of Florence when we heard the news,” Dr. Gabri- P led the attacker, but he already had managed to deliver more elli remembers. “We obviously felt very bad and were very P than a dozen destructive blows to the iconic statue. Others saddened, above all, for a statue so beautiful — the first of scrambled to scoop up souvenirs among the crumbled bits of the young Michelangelo.” precious marble that scattered onto the floor of the basilica. Artists, restorers and scientists around the world had It was a scene depicting the best and worst of humanity, strong opinions about what needed to be done. Some felt all at the foot of the grieving — now literally broken — the Pietà should be left in its damaged state as a commentary Blessed Mother holding her dead son, Jesus. on modern violence. Others thought it could be partially Shockwaves from the attack reverberated around the fixed, leaving the hammer markings as a visible reminder world. Created by Michelangelo in 1499, the statue is among of the incident. the most recognizable and revered sculptures in art history. The third option was radical, from the perspective of [See sidebar on pietà statues in the Diocese of Erie.] those working in the field: repair the statue completely. At the 1964 World’s Fair in New York City, 27 million Those involved with the restoration at the Vatican believed visitors viewed the Pietà in the Vatican Pavilion. The statue the situation called for innovative thinking. had sailed across the Atlantic on the deck of the Cristo- “In the end, it was not a statue in a museum,” Gabrielli foro Colombo ocean liner — wrapped in a crate that was says. “It was right in St. Peter’s Basilica. It was an object of suspended in another box and placed in a third container devotion and certainly could not remain mutilated.” designed to float, should the boat have sunk. The statue’s Thus began a seven-month process of discussion, study, U.S. visit was an immediate triumph, quickly becoming the practice and, finally, complete restoration under the guidance fair’s most popular feature. and direction of Dr. Vittorio Federici. The project, Gabrielli The small cadre of men responsible for the care and says, would ultimately restore the Madonna to the faithful. maintenance of artwork at the Vatican were deeply saddened But early in the process, team members were not always by the news of the 1972 attack. For these workers, includ- in agreement on how to proceed. ing the 34-year-old biochemist Dr. Nazzareno Gabrielli, “You know how men are,” Gabrielli says. [There were no restoration of the Pietà was life-altering. women on the restoration team.] “Everybody wants to be > CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 17 16 Faith magazine | April 2020 | www.faitherie.com Getty Images/ giko “Restoration the one who has the right idea, who stands out.” must always At the time of the restoration, Gabrielli was the youngest member of the group. Now a retired professor, he remembers be reversible. a moment in which he was able to steer his colleagues in selves, not the least of which was that the whiteness of the the right direction. I cannot put Pietà’s Carrara marble had aged over the centuries. Using “I recall getting very angry,” he says. “I called them to- new marble from the same quarry was out of the question. gether and I said, ‘Listen, if you want to do the restoration a substance Due to marble’s translucent and porous nature, an orig- and complete it in a reasonable amount of time, each of us inal recipe of material for the restoration would have to be must be enamored not with our own work, but with the on a work of developed, gram by gram. Eventually, under the direction work of each other.’” of Federici, Gabrielli and his team hit upon the idea of The truth of his words was undeniable. From that point art that I can’t combining several types and colors of marble rather than forward, Gabrielli says, “we worked together as one.” using dyes. Once the team decided to fully restore the , Gabrielli Pietà take away later. Achieving the precise blend necessary with the correct spent several months experimenting in the lab. He drew size of powdered marble was a painstaking process. This upon his biochemistry knowledge acquired at the Sapienza Who knows malleable mixture, combined with resin, could then be University of Rome. poured into casts made from the replica of the Pietà, hard- The director of the lab, Dr. Federici, remembered that what will ened and merged seamlessly into the original sculpture. there was an exact replica of the that had been made of Pietà The scientists used an adhesive that could be removed in plaster in 1944. It was in the historical museum of St. Peter’s. happen in the future, if necessary. The work would be difficult; they had no latex, laser or “Restoration must always be reversible,” Gabrielli says. 3D printers. But Federici knew that by using silicon rubber, 100 years?” “I cannot put a substance on a work of art that I can’t take the team would be able to use the replica to create molds for away later. Who knows what will happen in 100 years? various parts of the statue that had been damaged, especially Maybe the original marble and the material we created will the delicate eye of Mary that had been smashed to powder. age differently. Those who come after us must be able to “Today, the face of the Madonna is exactly the same undo anything we’ve done.” as that sculpted by Michelangelo. The only thing that is Another hard-and-fast rule by which they abided: Never, different is the matter of the parts reconstituted because ever let your guard down. Stopping to consider the prom- they are made of resin and marble granules,” Gabrielli says. inence of a work of art or the artist who created it is too In the lab, Gabrielli and the entire team were committed The damaged face of Mary great a distraction. to creating a substance that could be integrated seamlessly after the attack on the Pietà in 1972. “One must pay maximum attention at all times, with ut- with the original statue. Many problems presented them- Photo courtesy of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano most respect,” Gabrielli says. “It is like a surgeon. There can be no emotional participation. Passion? Yes, of course! Dr. Nazzareno Gabri- Skill and competence? Of course. But elli is pictured in this Vatican photo from the minute you are not working at full 1972 observing with attention, something will go wrong.” a stereo microscope One of the most difficult challenges a blue spot left from the team encountered ended up having the blow of a hammer one of the simplest solutions. Dried on the eyelid of the Pietà’s Madonna. blue paint from the hammer used in the attack transferred to the marble statue. Any solvent used to remove the paint would surely cause it to disperse into the marble. The highly educated team of scientists decided to try using a piece of tape — the simple kind found in any office or home. They placed it gently over the marks, rubbed it softly and discovered with great joy that the blue paint lifted off without a trace. By September 1972, the scientists The scientists charged with were confident they could hand off restoring the Pietà their recommendations to the art re- are pictured in 1972. Photo courtesy of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano 18 Faith magazine | April 2020 | www.faitherie.com Photo courtesy of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Vaticano > CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE 19 Dr. Nazzareno Gabrielli is pictured today outside the offices of the Fabbrica di San Pietà unites Christians in sorrow, hope Pietro in Vatican City. He is the last Anne-Marie Welsh by Photo BY MARY SOLBERG surviving member of the team that restored the damaged Pietà. Piety, pity and perfection — three p’s that capture Michelangelo’s Pietà. Pietàs grace many churches through- The term pietà has its roots in the Italian word for “pity” Pietàs out the Diocese of Erie. The images and the Latin word for “piety.” shown here (most of which were con- But for many who gaze upon the sculpture depicting tributed) are of statues at the following the Blessed Mother holding the dead Christ, perfection around the parishes: Holy Rosary in Johnsonburg, comes to mind, too, both artistically and spiritually. St. Bernard in Bradford, St. Catherine of Created by the young Michelangelo in 1499, this iconic diocese Siena in DuBois, St. George in Erie, St. image on display at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican re- Tobias in Brockway, St. Leo in Ridgway, mains today one of the most popular statues in Christian “Today, the face St. Peter Cathedral in Erie, St. Stanislaus art. Churches around the world, including many in the Dio- in Erie, and Holy Cross in Fairview.
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