Our Crowdfunding Project Continues

Dear Patrons and Friends,

In collaboration with the Canada Chapter, the Histories of Santa Barbara is a crowdfunding restoration project that is still in need of funding. Currently, the four panel paintings have undergone scientific research. At a recent restoration meeting, the scientific committee took close up photographs and printed out large scale images. The committee has been examining these prints. They also took pictures that look like X-rays to reveal the layers beneath the painting. This method allows the restorers to understand the current state of preservation that is beyond the surface. The scientific committee also emphasized that the panels would benefit from a new lattice system on the back, which will provide proper structural support.

We have almost reached our fundraising goal, and, with your help, we could finish financing our second crowdfunding project. If you would like to contribute to the restoration of the Histories of Santa Barbara, please click on this link

At this time, we would like to thank all the Patrons
who have already donated to this beautiful project.

These twelve bronze artifacts belong to the category of instrumentum domesticum, the vast and varied set of materials that illustrate everyday life in the ancient world. Ten of the pieces are in the collection of the Profane Museum, and two are in the Christian Museum. Most of these objects are, in fact, from the height of the Roman period. On the other hand, the kyathos (inv. 65659) stands out. Datable between the III and IV centuries B.C., it is a typical product of the Etruscan environment, as an integral part of the banquet instrumentum. This item was used for pouring wine and transferring it to libation vases. The remaining pieces of the Profane Museum represent the attachments of the container or oil lamps, configured in the form of human and gorgon faces, theatrical masks, erotes, palmette and Attis’s head. Pertaining to the Christian Museum, there is an oil lamp in the shape of a peacock (inv. 60910 – see the photo on the left), an animal closely connected to the symbol of the light. It was a donation from 1887, from a bequest by Card. Domenico Bartolini. The artifact is an acquisition of his Oriental travels and it is of probable Egyptian manufacture. Recent studies suggest it is from VI-VII century A.D.

The eleven sconces and the oil lamp are in a good state of preservation, although the surfaces appear to have not undergone restoration. They require a cleaning intervention because of incrustations and light corrosions. Restorers will provide a final consolidation to protect the works. If you are interested in adopting this project, please contact Romina Cometti

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