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SU alumnus shares experiences repairing Michelangelo painting
By Kate Brunkhorst
Posted: 10/2/08, 11:34 PM EST Section: News
When Diane Kunzelman shines intense light on Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, she said it's almost as if the brushstrokes are invisible. But technological advances have enabled art conservators like Kunzelman to better restore pieces to their original beauty.
Students and staff gathered Thursday afternoon in the Life Sciences Complex Auditorium for a presentation by Kunzelman, a Syracuse University alumnus and renowned painting restorer. She shared her experience involving the restoration of one of Michelangelo's masterpieces: the Doni Tondo, a portrait of the Holy Family.
The lecture is among several events included in the series "Rethinking Michelangelo," presented by the College of Visual and Performing Arts and SU Abroad. The series accompanies "Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth," which is the current SUArt Galleries exhibition running through Oct. 19.
Kunzelman is currently a conservator at the Uffizi Gallery and a professor at the SU Florence Center. She explained that renovation of the piece largely involved "imprinting" rather than "retouching." Retouching is a term that art conservators attempt to avoid today, she said. Conservators are no longer painting over works to restore them, she explained, but rather filling in places where paint is no longer present.
The Doni Tondo is the only remaining wood paneling that was originally created by Michelangelo. It is believed to have been painted for the marriage of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi because it is marked by the Strozzi family coat of arms in the frame. After passing through several hands, it went to the Uffizi Gallery.
It was taken briefly to a restoration lab in 1968 after damaging floods in 1966. Kunzelman restored the painting in 1985. She said she chose to restore Doni Tondo because it was in the frame that Michelangelo had originally crafted. The Doni Tondo was separated from its original frame during the Enlightenment period, but it was later reunited after the realization of its importance to the piece as a whole.
Students and staff gathered Thursday afternoon in the Life Sciences Complex Auditorium for a presentation by Kunzelman, a Syracuse University alumnus and renowned painting restorer. She shared her experience involving the restoration of one of Michelangelo's masterpieces: the Doni Tondo, a portrait of the Holy Family.
The lecture is among several events included in the series "Rethinking Michelangelo," presented by the College of Visual and Performing Arts and SU Abroad. The series accompanies "Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth," which is the current SUArt Galleries exhibition running through Oct. 19.
Kunzelman is currently a conservator at the Uffizi Gallery and a professor at the SU Florence Center. She explained that renovation of the piece largely involved "imprinting" rather than "retouching." Retouching is a term that art conservators attempt to avoid today, she said. Conservators are no longer painting over works to restore them, she explained, but rather filling in places where paint is no longer present.
The Doni Tondo is the only remaining wood paneling that was originally created by Michelangelo. It is believed to have been painted for the marriage of Agnolo Doni and Maddalena Strozzi because it is marked by the Strozzi family coat of arms in the frame. After passing through several hands, it went to the Uffizi Gallery.
It was taken briefly to a restoration lab in 1968 after damaging floods in 1966. Kunzelman restored the painting in 1985. She said she chose to restore Doni Tondo because it was in the frame that Michelangelo had originally crafted. The Doni Tondo was separated from its original frame during the Enlightenment period, but it was later reunited after the realization of its importance to the piece as a whole.
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