"The Volto Santo of Lucca, the 9th century crucifix that is one of the oldest known surviving wooden sculptures in Europe, has been restored to its original polychromy. Overpainted in the 17th century with a black on the robes and brown on the flesh tones then coated with a pigmented wax layer, the figure of Christ and the circular nimbus behind him were dull and dark, obscuring pigments of the highest quality like lapis lazuli blue and gold."
"The crucifix in the Cathedral of Saint Martin in Lucca was radiocarbon dated for the first time in 2020, thanks to modern technology that made it possible for the samples to be so tiny that taking them was not considered a sacrilege to a holy relic. Scholars had long believed that despite its origin story of having been brought to Lucca after a miraculous boat trip from the Holy Land in 782,"
"In 2022, experts from the Polychrome Wooden Sculpture Restoration Sector of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure began a complex restoration process. It began with a year of diagnostic analysis, followed by the careful removal of Christ from the cross. This was accomplished without damaging either part, and exposed for the first time the six oak and cedar wood pins used anchor the statue to the cross."
The Volto Santo of Lucca is a 9th-century crucifix and among Europe's oldest surviving wooden sculptures. Seventeenth-century overpainting and a pigmented wax layer had concealed original lapis lazuli and gold polychromy. Radiocarbon dating in 2020 confirmed an earlier origin aligning with the 782 arrival legend rather than a presumed 12th-century copy. Restoration began in 2022 at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure with a year of diagnostics and careful removal of Christ from the cross. The separation revealed six oak and cedar pins and showed the Holy Face carved from a single walnut log, hollowed at the back and capped at the nape where relics were likely placed.
Read at www.thehistoryblog.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]