Every day, thousands of locals, tourists and art lovers, pass through the churches, museums and galleries of Italy. All contain immaculate displays of artwork, collected during the nation's monumental historical periods. However, not all works have struggled to maintain their beauty. There are countless paintings and sculptures damaged by bad weather, floods or human destruction. In these cases, restoration is necessary to preserve these tokens, and women like Elizabeth Wicks are working to ensure these pieces are put back on display. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayElizabeth's studio is located in via dei Benci, nestled inside the Palazzo Mellini-Fossi, just a few steps from the radiant Piazza Santa Croce. His studio is rather small, but houses larger-than-life projects. This small space has seen presences such as the Madonna of the Innocents, The Death of Saint Joseph and the Deposed Christ. Despite its size, Wicks has the ideal space for projects large or small, all looked down upon by the ceiling frescoes and illuminated by the sunlight streaming through its large window. Wicks' work involves the conservation of works of art, so it mainly involves restoration of paintings, lines of polychrome sculptures, wall paintings, canvas and table paintings, all ranging from ancient to the contemporary. These projects are carried out by the superintendency when they are carried out for public orders, such as churches or museums, then for private clients. “In my work, I diagnose the causes of the deterioration of the work, I formulate a project to carry out the restoration work and then I carry out the restoration. » Wick's love of art and its history has been passed down even through generations of his family. “My father was a well-known painter and art history professor and my mother majored in art history in college, and I grew up in the New Hope artist colony, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. “His career was certainly destiny. Wick's first arrival in Florence was through a study abroad program during his junior year at Syracuse University. When she arrived, she had never heard of art restoration, and especially its impact on the Florentine community. “I was amazed by the love and care that went into rescuing the artwork. I think I decided at that point that I wanted to try catering as a career.” After six months, she returned to the United States to complete her studies and begin her career as an art restorer in Washington DC. After getting a scholarship to come to Florence for a year to start his master's degree in Italian Renaissance art history. “I ended up staying and doing three years of graduate school in art conservation. I had originally planned to move to Australia after that, and I still haven't made it yet! ". The commissions Wicks works on range from much earlier paintings, but with a team including two other Italian women, they specialize in works ranging from easel paintings, frescoes, wooden statuary, terracotta, marble and contemporary works in a range of media. Over time, Wicks specialized in canvas murals. “My work mainly consists of easel paintings and frescoes. I combined this knowledge with my specialization in mural restoration, so I was a consultant on several projectsin New York's Broadway theaters, including the New Amsterdam Theatre, the Belasco and Radio City Music Hall. One of Wick's most notable projects was the restoration of an essential work of art in the parish of Santa Lucia sul Prato. Although it is not a Duomo, it has a strong community of dedicated parishioners who seriously support the restoration of its art. The restoration of Santa Lucia's masterpieces includes the restoration of a 17th-century papier-mâché statue of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. “A work that needs restoration is like a patient undergoing treatment: there is a diagnostic phase during which we research the history of the painting, assess the problems it presents and decide on the best treatment. Diagnostic tests include x-raying the board, photographing it under ultraviolet and infrared light, and microscopic analysis. Along with Mary, Wicks made the decision to start with a simple test clean, which quickly progressed to slowly removing layers of repaints, leading to the discovery of the original layer. The Madonna project was focused not only by Wicks, but also by the women of the church who pray to the statue. During his competition, they persisted in remaining at the high altar. Mary helps them to pray with contentment. Restoration has a greater impact than visual aesthetic repair, but it heals the hearts and minds of the people who admire them so dearly. With this in mind, it is essential to be precise and delicate in the restoration process. Clear diagnosis and decision-making on the amount of work to be done, so as not to permanently damage the artwork. "The actual restoration process usually begins with structural work, such as working on the back of the painting to consolidate the damaged areas of the canvas, repairing tears and holes in the canvas, restoring the wooden stretcher, applying a border or new canvas to help hold the painting together, and restoring the wood in the case of a panel. The final phase is surface work, which may include cleaning successive layers of dirt, partial or total removal of oxidized varnish layers and repainting, retouching losses and applying a surface protective coating . In areas like this, it is crucial to have careful maintenance and observation of the progress of the work, including whether any further steps need to be taken in the restoration process. Especially if the original has been repeatedly attempted to be restored, it can become a problem. rather difficult challenge. “This aspect is tricky and depends mainly on the age of the painting and whether or not it covers the original. The context of the painting is also important. The community trusts Wicks to restore the artworks in a way that reflects their history and conceptualization. “For a work returning to a home or church, the readability of the work, its visual integrity, may take precedence over a more archaeological reconstruction of the work, which may expose large areas of missing or damaged painting. If the original coat is missing or extremely damaged, it may be best to keep the overpainting, as it too has become part of the painting's history. Most of Wick's commissions are for works of art in churches and museums, as well as private works. customers. Funding comes from the Italian government or trusted sponsors. Large projects involve a team of technicians, photographers and art historians from the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. Catering can be a competitive field,given that it requires a particular person to be as efficient and precise as possible, but there is a great need in the city of Florence, given that it is a capital of art. “Being an art restorer in Florence is like being an actor in London or New York: it's incredibly competitive but also incredibly challenging, in the sense that we have the best professionals in the sector globally. There is much to restore here, but financing the projects or reaching potential sponsors is often a challenge. “In recent years, Wicks has been commissioned to restore several paintings for the Duomo Opera Museum and the Innocenti Museum, both of which reopened after extensive renovations. “For the Innocenti, my favorite project was the restoration and research of what was considered their first painting, the Madonna of the Innocents. During the restoration, we actually discovered another painting beneath the surface.” This project was entirely recorded and will soon be the subject of a feature-length documentary, Les Innocents deFlorence. The project is funded by the Innocenti Museum and Jane Fortune, founder and president of AWA, the Advancing Women Artists Foundation. AWA expressed interest in Wicks and even sponsored one of his latest projects: a two-year restoration of a large altarpiece. created in 1767 by Vlolante Siries Cerroti to be placed in the church of Santa Maria Maddalena de Pazzi. The altar was damaged in the 1966 flood and later became the subject of a book Wicks co-authored, The Lady Who Paints, as well as a short documentary about its conservation. “This year, I opened an exciting new chapter in my life. » In March, Wicks completed the restoration of a canvas altarpiece from the Church of San Paolino in Florence, The Death of Saint Joseph. It was one of only three Tuscan works of art sponsored by Banca Inesa San Paolo and scheduled to be on display at the Royal Palace of Venaria until September. Once this project was completed, Wicks began teaching “Contemporary Art and Mixed Media Conservation” to 4th year freshmen in Viterbo University's 5-year conservation degree program. “The students focused on restoring the works of self-taught artist Bonaria Manca, a native Sardinian who began painting at the age of sixty, now 93, and who decorated the entire his house in Tuscania with paintings on the walls and ceilings, as well as paintings on canvas and mosaics. The work is exciting and stimulating! » Wicks contributed much more than the aesthetic preservation of the city of Florence, but his work was also manifested in spiritual and cultural preservation. The city identifies with its art: the paintings, the food and the architecture, making Florence as a whole a dimensional work of art, in search of opportunities. Florence gave me a career, a child, my family. It gave me the beauty of art, “bono” food and discovering this world of Tuscany gave me my life.” Florence has attracted him from a very young age, before his feet even touched the cobblestones. “I remember when I was fourteen and I was in my school library in the United States. I was looking at a book and saw the Primavera for the first time. I had never seen such a beautiful thing. It sounds cheesy, but I just had a feeling, I felt a connection to it. I wanted to be where this painting was. » Over time, this sensation became a reality, and an exceptional one. Wicks is a neighborhood in Florence that maintains the city's reputation. It contributes to its magnificence. Currently in progress in his workshop, Wicks is reconstructing Bastiano Mainardi's Madonna with Saints (tempera.