On the Ariadne...

The sculpture, made from valuable pentelic marble, is the replica of a Hellenistic bronze original, maybe a cult statue as inferable from a relief conserved in the Munich museum. The statue, known from the mid-fifteen hundreds and certainly in the Gallery from the beginning of the 18th Century, had probably already been in the possession of the Medici family, or had come from the Della Valle collections.

The restoration intervention would remove the thick dust layers deposited on the surface, that made the marble darker in some areas compromising the readability. Micro fractures and incipient fissures in the drapery are also noticeable, requiring stabilization. The old putty is to be replaced where no longer functional, or else retouched to attune chromatic inconsistencies caused by age and dirt.