VITTORE CARPACCIO | Madonna and Child

The following condition report has been provided by Karen Thomas of Thomas Art Conservation LLC., 336 West 37th Street, Suite 830, New York, NY 10018, 212-564-4024, info@thomasartconservation.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This panel is in sound condition overall with potential for improvement through careful cleaning and restoration. The thinness of the paint, typical for paintings by the artist, is attributable both to the artist's technique and to wear from past strong cleaning. The painting appears to be coated with a substantial amount of dirt and grime as well as an aged, discolored varnish, but relatively little retouching. For the most part, restoration is comprised of general toning in the flesh passages and some reinforcement of the facial features. A vertical loss runs from Mary's chest through the child's upper arm and a large loss encompasses much of Mary's hand that rests in her lap. Abrasion along the craquelure is most clearly visible in the child's flesh and in portions of the blue mantle; this wear contributes to the impression of a lack of definition. Degradation in the blue paint used for Mary's mantle has created a mottled appearance. These defects could be addressed with a new restoration, thereby improving the legibility of the imagery; the extant details in the landscape viewed through the window are encouraging and suggest aesthetic improvement could be considerable. The panel is comprised of three vertically grained boards, each of which has developed a mild warp, resulting in a slight undulating warp across the painting. Oxidation on the back of the panel indicates crossbars were at some point attached to the reverse, but currently the reverse is free of any structural intervention. Although the painting is structurally sound and may be displayed as is, cleaning and restoration would be worth undertaking.
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