Unveiling a Masterpiece. The Restoration of Malaria by Maria Martinetti
Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo (Rome)
The Vatican Museums rediscover in their rich repositories a pictorial masterpiece from the end of the 19th century, which from 20 September 2024 may also be admired by the public at large at the Castel Gandolfo Museum Complex, following careful restoration that has brought it back to its original beauty.
The new exhibition season at the Papal Palace will be inaugurated by the long-awaited "unveiling" of the painting Malaria (1887), a large oil on canvas (140.5 x 221.5), an early work by the Roman painter Maria Martinetti Stiavelli (1864-1937), who specialized in oriental subjects, genre scenes and historical themes. An almost unknown figure today, Maria Martinetti frequented some of the most interesting international artistic circles in Rome. During her lifetime, she also enjoyed modest success as a portrait painter and author of oriental subjects, which allowed her to move to the United States for a few years.
The painting Malaria was chosen by the artist for her participation in the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1889 – celebrated with the construction of the Eiffel Tower – obtaining the prestigious honour of the silver medal. Maria Martinetti presented the painting a second time, in 1893, at the Universal Exposition in Chicago, along with a watercolour entitled Beggar.
A large-scale canvas, Malaria is mature in style, sure in its composition and particularly original in the multiple levels of meaning the artist assigns, consciously or otherwise, to the subject, brought back to light by painstaking restoration work.
Jointly organized by the Directorate of Museums and Cultural Heritage and by the Directorate of the Pontifical Villas, the exhibition project is curated by Micol Forti, Director of the Department of XIX Century and Contemporary Art, while the entire restoration intervention was supported by the generosity of the Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums – Canada Chapter.
The painting will be accompanied by an evocative video contribution and by didactic panels which will illustrate both the life of Maria Martinetti and the scientific analyses conducted by the Cabinet of Scientific Research applied to Cultural Heritage, together with the surprising results of the magnificent restoration conducted by Rossana Giardina under the direction of Francesca Persegati, Director of the Painting and Wood Materials Restoration Laboratory.
The exhibition will be crowned by two original Ciociari dresses from the same years, from the Collections of Arts and Popular Traditions of the Museum of Civilizations in EUR (Rome).
Access to the exhibition is free of charge and is included in the entrance ticket to the Papal Palace of Castel Gandolfo, which can be visited (with a guide or independently) together with the Garden of the Moor and the Secret Garden.
