International Studies Conference “Giovanni Secco Suardo (1798-1873). The culture of Restoration between protection and conservation of the work of art”
Bergamo, 9-11 March 1995
The conference was an opportunity to study the activity and writings of Giovanni Secco Suardo, a leading figure in the debate in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century between art historians, museum directors, “conoisseurs“, collectors and restorers on the crucial issues of the protection, conservation and restoration of works of art.
Author, among other things, of the famous Manuale ragionato per la parte meccanica dell’arte del Ristauratore di dipinti (Milan 1866), Giovanni Secco Suardo contributed to develop and to update, in a modern and critical perspective, the methodologies, the purposes and the ethical-professional status of the restorer, exerting a considerable influence on the culture and tradition of conservation-restoration in Italy and in Europe.
The Conference also proposed some reflections on the practice and the original concepts of restoration of paintings between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, then developing the same themes inherent to the culture and practice of restoration, and in particular the problem of the training of the restorer, in a ‘contemporary optics, through the comparison and sharing of experiences and testimonies of sector specialists (art historians, restoration historians, museum and superintendent officials, operators and experts) from various European countries.
Through a specific session, the conference analyzed aspects and problems of the current culture of restoration in Europe (theories and applications, manuals and protection legislation, etc.).
The Conference Proceedings were collected in the supplement to number 98 of the Art Bulletin of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities (1996).
Promoters
Associazione Giovanni Secco Suardo
Istituto Centrale per il Restauro
Provincia di Bergamo, Assessorato alla Cultura
Participant Institutions
Associazione Giovanni Secco Suardo
Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Ufficio Centrale per i Beni Librari e gli Istituti Culturali
Donors
Regione Lombardia, Assessorato alla Cultura
Comune di Bergamo, Assessorato alla Cultura
Scientific Committee
Sandro Angelini (Commissione Restauri Provincia di Bergamo)
Umberto Baldini (Università Internazionale delle Arti, Firenze)
Giuseppe Basile (Istituto Centrale per il Restauro)
Carlo Bertelli (Università di Losanna)
Giorgio Bonsanti (Opificio delle Pietre Dure)
Evelina Borea (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali)
Alessandro Conti (Università di Siena)
Michele Cordaro (Istituto Centrale per il Restauro)
Marisa Dalai Emiliani (Università La Sapienza di Roma)
Enrico De Pascale (Provincia di Bergamo, Assessorato alla Cultura)
Cristina Giannini (Bayerisches Landesamt für Denkmalpflege, Monaco)
Mina Gregori (Università di Firenze)
Marc Laenen (ICCROM Roma)
Fabrizio Mancinelli (Musei Vaticani)
Alessandra Mottola Molfino (Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milano)
Mara Nimmo (Istituto Centrale per il Restauro)
Antonio Paolucci (Soprintendenza ai Beni Artistici e Storici, Firenze)
Pietro Petraroia (Soprintendenza ai Beni Artistici e Storici, Milano)
Lidia Rissotto (Istituto Centrale per il Restauro)
Francesco Rossi (Accademia Carrara, Bergamo)
Giorgio Torraca (Università La Sapienza di Roma)
Bruno Toscano (Università di Roma III)
Giovanni Urbani (“Materiali e Strutture”)
Rosalia Varoli Piazza (Istituto Centrale per il Restauro)