The Museum Castromediano, “Antonio Cassiano” art gallery of Lecce hosts an absolute preview until 18 December 2024 “Precious Baroque Woods of‘Southern Italy”, the exposition of three precious votive sculptures in polychromed wood, returned to the original colors and gilding thanks to the work of the center
interdisciplinary MOSAIC e exhibited to the public for the first time.
Preserved for centuries in the cloistered monasteries of the Benedictines of Lecce and the Poor Clares of Nardòthe three works – a rare example of dialogue between tradition, technique and artistic innovation – are ready to tell the story of the Italian baroque, through aI look unedited on‘art and spirituality of Southern Italycelebrating not only its artistic heritage, but also allowing the public to admire it for the first time three emblematic pieces, which reveal the cultural and devotional richness of the baroque season in Lecce, in its close relationships with Naples.
Project result “Interdisciplinary Convergences” – collaboration led by Prof. Raffaele Casciaro that sees together ABAP Superintendence of Brindisi and Lecce, CNR ISPC and University of Salento – the exhibition itinerary of “Legni Preziosi” is the the result of a scientific and innovative restoration. Among the works on display, a bust of Ecce Homo of 1674which revealed, thanks to axial tomography, a signature hidden within the sculpture, revealing the‘identity 
of‘artist and adding a new dimension to his story. Next to this, a statuette of Saint‘Onofrioattributed with certainty to famous sculptor Giacomo Colombowhose wooden dowel assembly technique confirmed the attribution. To complete the journey, one small but very precious statue of Ecce Homocoming from the monastery of Santa Chiara a Nardò, which stands out for its refinement of its polychromy and anatomical details. The exhibition will feature three important seventeenth-century sculptures restored by the MOSAIC center belonging to the Department of Cultural Heritage. The three works come from monastic cloistered places and represent three significant stages in the history of southern sacred statuary.
Among the most fascinating elements that emerged from the restoration stands out‘use of‘estofadoa decorative technique typical of Spain but also widely used in southern Italy, which, through scratches on gilding, enriches the surfaces of the sculptures with geometric and phytomorphic motifs. This element, combined with the chromatic liveliness of the original polychromes, represents a distinctive stylistic signature of Southern Baroque, which stands out for its Neapolitan influence adapted to local contexts. The three important wooden sculptures
polychromed from the Baroque period restored by the MOSAIC center (Multidisciplinary Organization for Studying and Analyzing materials in Art and Conservation), born from the collaboration of the University of Salento with the Polo Bibliomuseale della Puglia and the Province of Lecce. The first phase of this collaboration was hosted by the restoration laboratory of the Castromediano Museum, waiting for the Center to settle in the former Dominican Convent of Cavallino. The three works, not yet exhibited to the public, come from places of monastic seclusion: a bust of Ecce Homo and a Saint Onofrio from the Benedictine Monastery of Lecce and another Ecce Homo from that of the Poor Clares of Nardò.
The restoration was preceded and accompanied by in-depth investigations on the materials: analysis of the wood species used, stratigraphic sections 
of polychromies, computerized axial tomography (CT). Bibliographic and archival research and philological comparisons have completed the picture of knowledge from an interdisciplinary perspective, which has allowed us to reconstruct in the most complete way possible the history of the three sculptures, today most likely referable respectively to Antonio Gallo, Diego Viglialovos and James Columbus. In the case of Viglialovos, probability became certainty thanks to the discovery of a cartouche with his signature inside the statue. The restoration revealed the original polychromies, in all three cases rediscovered beneath later repaintings. The Ecce Homo of the Poor Clares found, once thick oxidized paints were removed, a delicate pink complexion; that of the Benedictines revealed a magnificent and almost intact estofado (decoration engraved on gold leaf) hidden by a thick repainting; finally the Sant’Onofrio now shows its refined original pictorial appearance, which is most likely due to Columbus himself, known as a painter as well as a sculptor. In cleaning the three works, different techniques were compared, including the use of a patented, eco-friendly product based on stabilizing lipase enzymes, which, when used in gel form, avoids the risk of irritation or sensitization to the operators. The restored works, chronologically scaled from the early seventeenth century of the Ecce Homo of Nardò, to 1674 of that of Lecce, up to the early eighteenth century of the piece attributed to Columbus, represent three significant stages in the history of southern sacred statuary, which in the exhibition compare with the works of the permanent collection of the Antonio Cassiano Pinacoteca, among which there are other seventeenth-century wooden sculptures, and with the magnificent reliquary statues coming from the Lecce church of Saint Irene.
Thanks to the synergy between institutions, scholars and restorers, and the use of the most advanced diagnostic technologies, these works are now accessible to the public, as evidence of the high technical mastery of Baroque artists and an insight into the aesthetics of Southern Baroque, helping to define the cultural identity of an era, offering a unique perspective on sacred art and opening new avenues for scientific and historical research.
Carlo Franza