Art Unveiled | 2

The closing of the Tosio Martinengo Picture Gallery in 2009 for conservation and restoration works marked the beginning of the activities related to the compiling of the Gallery’s general catalogue. Its collections comprise about 850 works dating from the 13th to the 18th century, a patrimony that was established in the early 19th century with the donation of the Paolo Tosio collection, and that has since then grown thanks to later additions from the city, its churches, aristocratic residences, from other donations, and rare purchases.


The first volume of the catalogue, published in 2011, included 350 paintings from the 17th and 18th century. The second volume, which is currently being drafted and will soon be released, will comprise 500 paintings from the 13th to the 16th century, thus including the most famous works of the Gallery collection but also some less know ones, that were stored in the deposits and that in many cases have never been displayed, mainly due to their poor conditions. This project has therefore involved an important conservation campaign regarding 29 paintings. In some cases, the treatments addressed relevant conservation problems thereby assuring a better readability of the works, which is an essential requirement for further in depth studies. The paintings that were selected for the conservation treatments mainly presented varnish alterations and dust and dirt stratifications, which in some cases severely impaired a correct appreciation of the painted surface. In other cases, the works presented abrasions, tears, and liftings. Studies and restoration treatments were combined with scientific analyses (reflectography, radiography and stratigraphy). The recent photographic campaign completed the thorough examination of the entire patrimony and the photos will be used to accompany the catalogue entries. 


The compilation of single entry entailed in depth research in archives and libraries in order to piece together the critical fortune (or misfortune, in some cases) of the paintings, define their cultural collocation, confirm or suggest possible attributions and dating, and to further specify the works’ provenance and ownership history.


This exhibition attests some of the discoveries revealed by the restoration treatments and recent studies. The new digital equipment available in the exhibition allows the viewers to admire the restored paintings in every smallest detail; the paintings’ current condition of improved readability owing to the conservation treatment is also highlighted by the comparison of before and after images of the paintings. Additionally, in support of the formulated hypothesis, the exhibition presents reproductions of those works referred to in support of new attributions. Furthermore, the definition of the history of the frescos coming from buildings from Brescia and its territory, which were demolished or radically restored in the past decades, can also be of interest, especially for those not in the field.