Coline Milliard, Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Raphael, Deposition, Pala Baglione (1507)
Raphael’s Deposition (1507), one of the highlights of the Galleria
Borghese’s collection, has been severely damaged because of a faulty air
conditioning system in the Rome museum, the Independent reports.
A High Renaissance masterpiece, the wood panel became warped in
the Italian summer heat. Staff have done their best to save it, but with an AC
described by director Anna Coliva as “completely worn out” there was little
they could do. The staff initially used improvised methods such as opening the
windows and placing fans and a dehumidifier next to the painting in an attempt
to let to let it straighten on its own.
When those efforts failed to produce notable improvement, the
painting was removed from the gallery for emergency conservation. Those
measures have considerably reduced the damage to Raphael’s Deposition, but,
according to the Independent, it remains unclear when the AC system will be
fixed and to which extent it will be upgraded.
The Galleria Borghese’s AC problems are nothing new (“Borghese
Gallery’s Masterpieces Threatened by Shoddy Maintenance“). This past May,
Coliva raised the alarm, telling the Italian press that her requests to have
the gallery’s climate control system updated had been repeatedly ignored by her
superiors. Rome’s Head of Museums Daniela Porro brushed the accusation off,
claiming that the situation wasn’t as serious as was reported.
She couldn’t have been more wrong, it seems. Although some
maintenance work was eventually done following Coliva’s complaint, many other
major artworks could still be at risk as temperatures remain high by
conservation standards.
Acclaimed as one of the world’s most prestigious ensembles of
Renaissance art, the Borghese collection was started by Cardinal Scipione
Borghese in the early 17th century. It features paintings by the likes of
Caravaggio, Titian, Veronese, and Correggio, which were left unprotected as the
temperature in Rome rose above 35 degrees Celsius (95 Farenheit) this summer.
Many gallery-goers complained from the insufferable heat inside
the galleries. “Some customers even felt overcome—and unfortunately, it wasn’t
due to Stendhal syndrome,” an official told La Repubblica, jokingly referring
to the condition which is said to cause fainting when viewing great works of
art.