Randy Kennedy reports in the New York Times that the Prada company, in honor of its new store in Florence, will provide financial assistance for the cleaning of Giorgio Vasari’s Last Supper, which was severely damaged in 1966. Additional funding has been provided the Getty Foundation.
During the alluvione (great flood) that submerged Florence in November 1966, Giorgio Vasari’s large panel painting depicting the Last Supper was under water for twelve hours. Called “one of the worst cases in conservation history,” the panel has been the subject of an intensive conservation treatment at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence.
Vasari received the commission in 1546 from the Benedictine nuns of Santissima Annunziata alle Murate. With the Napoleonic suppression of all religious orders, the Murate was transformed into a jail, and Vasari’s painting was moved to nearby Santa Croce. Because of its large size and multi-panel poplar support, many thought the picture was beyond help. Conservators hope to finish the restoration by 2016, in time for the 50th anniversary of the great flood.
Giorgio Vasari, “The Last Supper,” 1546, reassembled for the first time in nearly 50 years. Archives of the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence.
Conservators at the OPD preparing the reverse of one of the Vasari Last Supper panels for rejoining. Image courtesy Britta New, National Gallery, London
Piazza Santa Croce, 1966