RECENT AND CURRENT CONSERVATION PROJECTS

Conservation work for the exhibition Tintoretto- Venedigs Moderne um 1545 
2017
Conservation work is currently underway to preserve a small-scale, patinated-plaster model of Michelangelo’s Dawn sculpture from the Medici Chapels that is believed to have been produced by a Venetian workshop sometime in the 16th century.
The piece, which is part of the collection at the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art will be loaned to the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Foundation Corboud in Cologne, where it will feature in an upcoming exhibition celebrating the work of Tintoretto. The cost of the conservation work will be borne by the museum in Cologne.

Conservation work on the “Mantova Benavides” and “Gipsoteca” collections
2016
As part of the University Museum Centre’s multi-year programme of conservation and maintenance work on the two collections, four works from the collection of the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art underwent conservation work in 2015. Specifically, these were two Renaissance busts depicting Meleager and the Roman emperor Vitellius, and two busts from the museum’s twentieth-century gipsoteca (hall of plaster casts ), one portraying Homer, the other Poseidon (after the Chiaramonti Poseidon).

Conservation work on the “Mantova Benavides” and “Gipsoteca” collections
2015
As part of the University Museum Centre’s multi-year programme of conservation and maintenance work on the two collections, four works from the collection of the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art underwent conservation work in 2015. Specifically, these were two Renaissance portrait busts in patinated plaster depicting the Roman emperors Augustus and Commodus, and two pieces from the 20th-century gipsoteca (hall of plaster casts), a veiled Augustus and a representation of Seneca.

Conservation work for the exhibition Portable Classics. Ancient Greece to Modern Europe 
2015
The Fondazione Prada’s Portable Classics. Ancient Greece to Modern Europe exhibition provided the ideal opportunity to carry out conservation work on the 16th-century bust exhibited on loan from the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art. The piece – a work in the antique manner depicting Emperor Lucius Verus – is one of the most important Renaissance busts in the 16th-century “Mantova Benavides” collection, the oldest collection in the Museum.
As organisers of the exhibition (the academic curators were Salvatore Settis and Davide Gasparotto), which ran from 5 May to 6 September 2015 at its own gallery at the Ca’ Corner della Regina in Venice, the Fondazione Prada bore the full cost of the diagnostic investigation and subsequent conservation work.

Conservation work on the “Mantova Benavides” and “Gipsoteca” collections
2014
As part of the University Museum Centre’s multi-year programme of conservation and maintenance work on the two collections, three works from the collection of the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art underwent conservation work in 2014. Specifically, these were two Renaissance portrait busts in patinated plaster, one held to depict Coelius Caldus, the other the Emperor Caracalla, and a piece from the 20th-century gipsoteca (hall of plaster casts), namely a bust of Aphrodite.

Conservation work for the exhibition Pietro Bembo e le Arti 
2013
The Pietro Bembo e le Arti exhibition (“Pietro Bembo and the Arts”), which ran from 2 February to 19 May 2013 at the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà in Padova, provided the ideal opportunity to perform a diagnostic examination and carry out conservation work on the 16th-century Renaissance bust of Milichus/Brutus exhibited on loan from the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art. As organisers of the exhibition, in collaboration with the “Andrea Palladio” International Centre for Architectural Studies, the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo bore the full cost of the conservation work.

Conservation work for the Lo scavo e la ricerca archeologica patavina in Egitto section (“Paduan archaeological studies and excavations in Egypt”) of the Egitto in Veneto exhibition (“Egypt in the Veneto”) 
2013
The Egitto in Veneto exhibition curated by Paola Zanovello and Emanuele M. Ciampini, which ran from 19 April to 30 June 2013, and more specifically the Lo scavo e la ricerca archeologica patavina in Egitto section curated by Alessandra Menegazzi and Giulia Deotto and exhibited at the Museum of Achaeological Sciences and Art, provided the ideal opportunity to carry out conservation work on an ancient musical instrument, an extremely rare 14-pipe pan flute that came to Padova from Egypt as part of a collection of items uncovered by Carlo Anti.
Thanks to a meticulous diagnostic examination and the subsequent conservation efforts, all of which were funded by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo, it has been possible to return the flute to public display.

RECENT AND CURRENT LOANS

08/07/2017 - 05/11/2017
Collaboration Marcello Fogolino e il principato vescovile trentino (“Marcello Fogolino and the Episcopal Principality of Trento”)
Trento, Museo del Castello del Buonconsiglio
The museum is currently assisting with preparations for the opening of the Marcello Fogolino e il principato vescovile trentino exhibition organised and hosted by the Museo del Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, which is scheduled to run from 8 July to 5 November 2017.
For the exhibition, the organisers have asked the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art for the loan of a marble statue dating from the late Hellenistic period (2nd century BC), which is believed to depict either Aphrodite or Leda.

05/05/2015 - 06/09/2015
Collaboration Portable Classics. Ancient Greece to Modern Europe
Venezia, Fondazione Prada
Between 5 May and 6 September 2015, two works from the collection of the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art – specifically a small marble figure of a woman from the 2nd century BC and a model for an antique-style bust of Emperor Lucius Verus (16th century AD) – were included in the exhibition Portable Classics. Ancient Greece to Modern Europe . The exhibition was organised by the Fondazione Prada – with Salvatore Settis and Davide Gasparotto as academic curators – and held at their exhibition space at the Ca’ Corner della Regina in Venice.

15/04/2015 - 19/07/2015
Collaboration Leonardo 1452- 1519
Milano, Palazzo Reale
As part of the cultural initiatives developed for Expo 2015 in Milan, a marble sculpture believed to depict either Aphrodite or Leda (2nd century BC) was loaned by the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art to the organisers of the exhibition Leonardo 1452-1519. The exhibition, which was organised by the Milanese municipal authorities in association with the Skira Group, was held at the Palazzo Reale in Milan and was open to the public from 15 April to 19 July 2015.

21/03/2013 - 06/01/2014
Collaboration La Primavera del Rinascimento. La Scultura e le Arti a Firenze 1400-1460 ("The Springtime of the Renaissance. Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400-1460")
Firenze, Palazzo Strozzi - Parigi, Museo del Louvre
Between 21 March 2013 and 6 January 2014, a model of the Head of Gattamelata, which has been attributed to Donatello’s workshop in Padova, left the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art on loan to be included in the exhibition Springtime of the Renaissance. Sculpture and the Arts in Florence 1400-1460. A joint initiative by the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi and Polo Museale in Florence and the Louvre Museum in Paris, the exhibition ran from 21 March to 18 August 2013 at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, and from 23 September 2013 to 6 January 2014 at the Louvre. The model is a unique piece, and particularly significant for what it reveals about the art-making processes employed in the 15th and 16th centuries, regardless of whether it is believed, as it is by some scholars, to be a model from Donatello’s own workshop or, as others insist, merely a copy of the great master’s work.

02/02/2013 - 19/05/2013
Collaboration Pietro Bembo e le Arti (“Pietro Bembo and the Arts”)
Padova, Palazzo del Monte di Pietà
Between 2 February and 19 May 2013, the Renaissance Bust of Milichus/Brutus (16th century), and the model for an Allegory of Wisdom attributed to Bartolomeo Ammannati (c. 1545) were both sent out on loan from the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art to be included in the exhibition Pietro Bembo e le Arti, which was organised by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo in collaboration with the “Andrea Palladio” International Centre for Architectural Studies and held at the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà in Padova.

RECENT AND CURRENT PROJECTS

Archaeology and Virtual Acoustic. A Pan Flute from ancient Egypt
2015-2016
The museum houses an ancient, and very rare, wind instrument, a fourteen-pipe pan flute that came to Padova from Egypt as part of a collection of finds uncovered during archaeological expeditions led by Carlo Anti. Having undergone a painstaking conservation process, it was exhibited for the first time at the exhibition Lo scavo e la ricerca archeologica patavina in Egitto, (“Paduan archaeological studies and excavations in Egypt”) which was held at the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art as part of the 2013 section of a much wider initiative titled Egitto in Veneto (“Egypt in the Veneto” – see below for more information about the conservation project, and see under EVENTS for information about the exhibition). This event led to a collaboration that, itself, led to a university-funded research project involving the Centre for Computational Sonology at the Department of Information Engineering, and the Department of Cultural Heritage, with the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art selected to house the precious object. Thanks to the broad range of expertise offered by the research team, it was possible not only to examine the physical structure of the instrument and the materials and methods used to produce it, but also to infer information about the music of the Hellenistic world and, given that the flute has been carbon-dated to the sixth century AD, its survival into late antiquity. Project applications: the creation of an interactive information point within the museum where the visitor can explore the various phases of the project and even play the instrument “virtually”.
The project has also offered an opportunity to explore new conservation solutions to meet the complex needs of objects such as this.

Project leaders: Paola Zanovello and Gianni De Poli, University of Padova
Participants: Ivana Angelini, Federico Avanzini, Sergio Canazza, Alessandra Menegazzi, Gianmario Molin, Antonio Rodà, Giuseppe Salemi
Grant recipients: Giulia Deotto, Niccolò Pretto

Collaboration: Horus. Aerial Visions of the Archaeological Space
2014-2016
A University of Padova-funded study developed jointly by the Department of Cultural Heritage and the university’s “Giuseppe Colombo” Centre for Space Studies and Activities (CISAS) as part of a series of innovative, student-led projects. The project was set up with a view to employing remote sensing and aerospace technologies as a means of investigating ancient environments, and implementing the data on a Geographic Information System, through which the spatial and archaeological data from the two sites studied could be stored, manipulated and analysed.
The Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art played a key role in the initiative, providing access to the historic maps in the collection to assist with the study of one of the two sites, the Egyptian city of Tebtynis.
In return, the project provided the museum with high-resolution, digitised versions of the historic maps, which should prove to be a key step forward both in conserving this priceless documentary resource and putting it to best use in the future.

Project leader: Giulia Deotto, PhD student (academic supervisor: Paola Zanovello)
Participants: A.Aboudan, P.Benvenuti, C.Bettanini, C.Bettineschi, G.Colombatti, S.Debei, A.De Guio, L.Magnini, A.Menegazzi, L.Toninello and the Horus Project group (including students from both participating departments)
Grant recipients: Giulia Deotto

Egitto in Veneto (“Egypt in the Veneto”)
2012-2014
Funded by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo as one of its “Projects of Excellence”, the Egitto in Veneto project was set up to promote the study of Egyptian and “Egyptianising” artefacts in the region’s museums, and particularly to develop initiatives to make better use of such collections. The project included a large archaeological exhibition, which took place in 2013. It was divided into five separate sections, which were staged in different venues across Rovigo and Padova including the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art (see EVENTS).

Project leaders: Paola Zanovello (University of Padova) and Emanuele M. Ciampini (Ca’Foscari University of Venice)
Contact at the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art: Alessandra Menegazzi
Contract researchers: Giulia Deotto, Claudia Gambino, Martino Gottardo

Egitto Veneto (“Venetian Egypt”)
2008-2011
A project backed by the Veneto regional authorities as an initiative to review, study and catalogue the Egyptian and “Egyptianising” artefacts in the region’s museums, whether in publicly owned collections or in private hands.
With the Department of Cultural Heritage (or Department of Archaeology, as it was then known) as a key contributor, the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art was naturally one of the first institutions to be involved.
The project involved the study and scientific cataloguing of the museum’s collection of Egyptian and “Egyptianising” artefacts, both those that are typically kept on display and those that are normally held in storage. As such, it was able to contribute to both our understanding and knowledge of the items, but also to improving access to, and appreciation of them among academics, schools and the general public.

Project leaders: Paola Zanovello (University of Padova) and Emanuele M. Ciampini (Ca’Foscari University of Venice)
Contact at the Museum of Archaeological Sciences and Art: Alessandra Menegazzi
Grant recipients: Giulia Deotto, Claudia Gambino, Martino Gottardo

http://egittoveneto.veneto.eu/minisito/EgittoVeneto/dettaglio?path=/Comp...