The Pontifical Delegation of the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua announces financial support from Friends of Florence and Save Venice for the restoration of Donatello’s equestrian monument to Gattamelata
Padua and Rome, Italy (November 11, 2024) – The Pontifical Delegation of the Basilica of St. Anthony in Padua, Italy, is delighted to announce financial support from the American nonprofit organizations Friends of Florence and Save Venice for the restoration of Donatello’s equestrian monument to Gattamelata. The mid-15th century bronze monument, situated on the parvis of the Basilica of St. Anthony, is in urgent need of maintenance.
Thanks to Save Venice with the primary support of Jon and Barbara Landau and to Friends of Florence with the support of Stacy Simon, it will be possible next year to embark on the delicate restoration of the monument, its stone base, and its original bas-reliefs.
Donatello’s Gattamelata was the first 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, where Gattamelata, the capitain general of the Venetian army, was buried in 1458. A diagnostic campaign has revealed that the bronze surfaces present forms of deterioration common to monuments in copper alloy exposed to the elements, including what is known as “bronze cancer”, 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, 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 36 pieces, thus increasing the structural instability of both the horse and its rider. The base, in trachyte and Istria stone, has also deteriorated due both to its constant exposure to the elements and to the corrosion of the cement mortar applied in the course of earlier restoration.
