Save Venice and Friends of Florence are delighted to announce their collaboration for the restoration of Donatello’s Equestrian Monument to Gattamelata. This bronze masterpiece, dating to the mid-15th century, stands at the front of the Basilica of Saint Anthony in Padua and is in urgent need of conservation work. Thanks to Save Venice with lead funders Jon and Barbara Landau and Friends of Florence with the support of Stacy Simon, and with the collaboration of the Pontifical Delegation of the Basilica di Sant’Antonio in Padova, the delicate restoration of the equestrian monument and its stone base can begin in 2025.

Donatello’s statue of Gattamelata is the first surviving life-size equestrian statue to be cast in bronze since classical antiquity. Fashioned between 1447 and 1453, it occupies an eminent position on the square in front of the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua, where Erasmo da Nani called “Gattamelata,” the captain general of the Venetian army, was buried in 1458. A diagnostic campaign has revealed that the statue’s bronze surfaces present forms of deterioration common to monuments in copper alloy that are exposed to the elements, including what is known as “bronze disease,” a form of corrosion that affects copper alloys. In this process, cuprous chloride reacts with water to form hydrochloric acid, which attacks and corrodes the bronze in its turn, thus speeding up the copper’s deterioration. Possibly on account of the difficulties involved in casting an equestrian statue of this size, Donatello split the monument into thirty-six pieces, thus increasing the structural instability of both the horse and its rider. The base, in trachyte and Istrian stone, has also deteriorated due both to its constant exposure to the elements and to the corrosion of the cement mortar applied during an earlier restoration.

Acting on behalf of the Pontifical Delegation, Nicola Salvioli’s restoration team conducted an initial fact-finding examination of the monument in the spring of 2023. Their close inspection consisted of in-depth examination of the surface both with the naked eye and using a microscope, endoscopies exploring the interior of the bronze, and a photographic campaign. The wealth of data concerning the artist’s technique and the condition of the monument was recorded graphically on 3D models, based on which a set of recapitulatory tables were generated, enabling the team to perform an initial assessment of the current state of Donatello’s masterpiece. This was followed by operational assistance during the diagnostic phases conducted by Padua University’s CIBA (Interdepartmental Archaeological, Architectural and Art Historical [Cultural Assets] Research, Study and Conservation Center) on behalf of the Padua Soprintendenza ABAP, leading to the identification of areas of analysis and the sampling of material for analysis in relation to the monument’s more immediately apparent issues.

Also, in the context of the research currently under way to produce a project for the restoration of the statue, one unquestionably important aspect is to determine the monument’s structural stability. This, in order not only to define its present condition both in a static situation and in the event of an earthquake, but also to identify the precautionary measures to be adopted during the delicate phase involving the transfer of the monument to a protected environment for further analysis prior to its restoration proper. On-site inspection has revealed fragility and signs of age on certain parts of the statue due both to its original construction and subsequent deterioration, and to its manipulation in the past (for example, its removal and replacement in position in wartime). It will be necessary to pay specific attention to such areas when defining the restoration project.

In view of the evidence that has emerged during every stage of the preliminary investigation, the restoration of the equestrian monument to Gattamelata and its base appears not only necessary but essential to ensure the preservation of the work of art for present and future generations.

This important partnership, which will make it possible to implement the final project and to begin conservation work in the early months of 2025, was presented in the afternoon of Monday, November 11, through a live stream from the International Press Room in Palazzo Grazioli in Rome and the Theological Study Room in the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua.

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