Remarkable Renaissance Restoration Revealed

Bust of Lorenzo de' Medici Returned to Original Condition
by Stan Parchin

Lorenzo de' Medici (1449/1521), the National Gallery of Art's famous portrait bust of Florence's wily Italian Renaissance statesman, returned to public view on July 28, 2006 after conservation work that started with more than ten years of extensive research. In modern times, the painted terracotta sculpture, a gift to the museum in 1943, was a monochromatic brown statue. Recent scientific studies revealed that it was covered in accumulated layers of dirt and over-paint, obscuring its original polychromed beauty.


Lorenzo de' Medici, 1478/1521
(image prior to conservation treatment)
Florentine, 15th or 16th century, probably after a
model by Andrea del Verrocchio and Orsino Benintendi
Painted terracotta
65.8 x 59.1 x 32.7 cm (25 7/8 x 23 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.92
National Gallery of Art, Washington
© 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington


The bust's restoration, supervised by expert conservators and curators, uncovered marvelously rosy tones in its lips and cheeks. Traces of beard stubble painted around Lorenzo's mouth, preserved by decades of grime, are now visible. They add to the statue's sense of naturalism. The sculpture's previously drab blue and brown attire has been transformed, uncovering Lorenzo's originally vibrant red headdress and scarf. The work now also dons a purple-blue tunic. Studies in Italian Renaissance fashion encouraged restorers to remove a knob (a later mistaken addition) from the bust's right shoulder. Plaster alterations to the sculpture's back and lower parts of its arms have been maintained. And in some minor sections, in-painting has preserved the visual integrity of the statue's surface.


Lorenzo de' Medici, 1478/1521
(detail: image midway through conservation treatment)
Florentine, 15th or 16th century, probably after a
model by Andrea del Verrocchio and Orsino Benintendi
Painted terracotta
65.8 x 59.1 x 32.7 cm (25 7/8 x 23 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.92
National Gallery of Art, Washington
© 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington


One result of the research related to the restoration of Lorenzo de' Medici was a 1997 reassessment of its attribution. The sculpture was previously thought to be a work by the hand of Florentine sculptor and painter Andrea del Verrocchio (ca. 1435-1488), the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Scholars now believe that the bust was created by an unknown Italian sculptor of the early Sixteenth Century who based his masterpiece on an image created by Orsino Benintendi, an Italian Renaissance wax portraitist supervised by Verrocchio.


Lorenzo de' Medici, 1478/1521
(image after conservation treatment)
Florentine, 15th or 16th century, probably after a
model by Andrea del Verrocchio and Orsino Benintendi
Painted terracotta
65.8 x 59.1 x 32.7 cm (25 7/8 x 23 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.92
National Gallery of Art, Washington
© 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington


Lorenzo de' Medici (1449-1492), known as il Magnifico (the Magnificent) to his contemporaries, ruled Florence through family influence at the city's cultural height during the Early Italian Renaissance. He patronized the painters Sandro Botticelli (1444/45-1510), Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494) and Leonardo da Vinci. The sculptors Donatello (ca. 1386-1466) and Verrocchio also benefited from his support. Botticelli's famous Birth of Venus (ca. 1483), commissioned by Lorenzo, reflected his patron's preferred taste for antique mythological themes during the classical revival in Quattrocento Italy.


Lorenzo de' Medici, 1478/1521
(alternate view: image after conservation treatment)
Florentine, 15th or 16th century, probably after a
model by Andrea del Verrocchio and Orsino Benintendi
Painted terracotta
65.8 x 59.1 x 32.7 cm (25 7/8 x 23 1/4 x 12 7/8 in.)
Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.92
National Gallery of Art, Washington
© 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington


Embittered enemies of Lorenzo, envious of his pervasive political power achieved through his family's successful banking enterprises, conspired against him in Florence and Rome. A diabolical plot to assassinate the distinguished Lorenzo and his younger brother, Giuliano, quietly emerged. The scheme, supported by the nepotistic Pope Sixtus IV (r. 1471-1484), was to be carried out by the Pazzi, a rival banking family. After one failed attempt on the previous evening, Lorenzo and Giuliano attended morning High Mass in the Cathedral of Florence on April 26, 1478. Pazzi henchmen gathered in the church. The exact moment that the priest elevated the host or Eucharistic wafer during the Consecration of the Mass was the assailants' signal to murder the Medici brothers. Giuliano was stabbed numerous times and mortally wounded. Lorenzo, also assaulted, survived the nefarious Pazzi Conspiracy. He escaped to the church's sacristy from where he later emerged, more popular than ever in the eyes of the Florentine masses. Lorenzo thanked the citizens publicly for their support by placing life-size wax statues of himself, produced under the careful supervision of the skilled Andrea del Verrocchio, in some of Florence's churches. Sadly, none of these images have survived.

The National Gallery of Art also owns Giuliano de' Medici (1478/1521), a superb terracotta portrait bust of outstanding quality by Verrocchio. The upper torso of Lorenzo's brother is attired in an elaborately carved breastplate that might have been worn at a joust celebrating the younger Medici's coming of age in 1475. A fierce winged head with mouth wide open, reminiscent of examples from classical Roman art, is prominently emblazoned in high-relief on the sitter's armor. Giuliano's self-assured pose suggests his commanding presence. In the aftermath of Giuliano's untimely death, Lorenzo de' Medici avenged his brother's assassination by orchestrating the murders of the assailants. This act of retribution included the hanging of Francesco Salviati, the Archbishop of Pisa and a fellow conspirator in the heinous crime, from a window of Florence's town hall.


Andrea del Verrocchio (Italian, Florentine, 1435-1488)
Giuliano de' Medici, ca. 1475/1478
Terracotta
61 x 66 x 28.3 cm (24 x 26 x 11 1/8 in.)
Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.127
National Gallery of Art, Washington
© 2006 Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington


For further reading:

Butterfield, Andrew. The Sculptures of Andrea del Verrocchio.
New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.

An insightful and thorough survey of Verrocchio's sculptures.

Pyhrr, Stuart W. and Jose A. Godoy. Heroic Armor of the Italian
Renaissance: Filippo Negroli and His Contemporaries (exh. cat.).
New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999.

An extremely valuable and richly illustrated study of parade and ceremonial armor from the later years of the Italian Renaissance.

Radke, Gary M. Verrocchio's David Restored: A Renaissance
Bronze from the National Museum of the Bargello, Florence
(exh. cat.). Atlanta, GA: High Museum of Art, 2005.

Provides detailed information about the recent restoration of one of Verrocchio's masterpieces.

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From your Guide: Stan Parchin, Senior Correspondent for Museums and Special Exhibitions, is a specialist in ancient, late-medieval and Renaissance art and history, and a regular contributor to About Art History. You may read all of his Special Exhibition and Catalogue Reviews here.