Madonna and Child and Saints Nicholas and Proculus
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, 1332 ca.
Triptych, Tempera on wood, cm 151 x 57 (central panel), cm 141 x 43 (side panels)
Inv. 1890 nos. 9411, 8731, 8732
Uffizi Gallery, Room of Sienese Trecento
The triptych, one of the most important evidences of the Florentine activity of the Sienese painter Ambrogio Lorenzetti – author of the Good Government frescos in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena – comes from the Florentine church of Saint Proculus.
The two side panels reached the Gallery after the suppression of religious orders under Napoleon, whereas the central panel with the Madonna and Child used to be in the collection of Bernard Berenson who generously donated it to the Uffizi in March 1959, so the altarpiece could be reunited.
The pictorial surface of the three panels is darkened by dirt and shows degraded varnish and altered retouching. The panels been bordered with modern splints of wood that alter the overall perception of the artwork.
The restoration intervention involves removal of the non-original wooden parts, disinfestation of the support, cleaning of the pictorial surface, replacement of pictorial integrations.
