Galleria degli Uffizi, hall of the church of San Pier Scheraggio

From 13 October to 9 November 2014

There are currently two works in the Uffizi intended to preserve the memory of the tangible mafia attack of May 27, 1993, memories left for those who in time, will visit the Gallery and will have no notion of the tragedy of that night. Ours is, in fact, a time made to forget. And there are no guarantees that in the future the  inclination will change. Anyway, it is perhaps understandable that the mind instinctively closes at the memory of a pain too great. But this is why we need the poets, to raise events (even those more dramatic) from raw contingency to an aura of affection.

It is in the middle of the stone stairway that falls from the west corridor that leads to the entrance into the airways that Vasari invented to connect the Uffizi to the Pitti Palace – where the steps stop shortly – where, hanging (again, as in that gloomy period in ’93) was the Adoration of the Shepherds painted between 1619 and 1620 by Gherardo della Notti for the apse of the church of Santa Felicita (church which the Vasari Corridor passes from behind). That canvas – not torn from the exploded windows, but abraded by the fury of a stormy wind – suddenly seemed, under the light of the photocells, hopeless, and in full, destroyed. Not, even with the following days was the sense of loss downsized. It was, indeed, a striking devastation, which sent the monumental painting to a hopeless confinement into the museum’s reserves.

It was after months of repairs and restoration, the same canvas claimed a new life: in the dark a Caravaggio style sky, that under the veils placed immediately after the attack that led it to be considered totally ruined, appeared, as in an unexpected epiphany, a space of intact preservation; leading to a rise in confidence despite a feeble compensation. From there an intervention started, which led to the recovery of almost half of the color. A very beautiful half, though; right at the heart of the painting: starting from the baby on the bed of straw, which was originally the source of light, the light that shone in the darkness that faces Mary and the defendants called by the angels.

Его "Маха обнажённая" при всей красоте обнажена. Можно, разглядывая рисунок, восхищаться изяществом вышитых цветов на чулке прелестной куртизанки, а затем вдруг неожиданно догадаться, что на следующем рисунке нас ждёт чудовище с головой фигляра, которое она произведёт на свет в результате пагубной страсти, - однако источником страсти и было изящество.