A major new restoration project is set to begin at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello, where conservators will undertake the careful restoration of the marble base of Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus, a masterpiece of 16th-century Florentine sculpture.
Organized jointly by the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze and the Bargello Museums, the project will take the form of a live restoration site open to visitors in the ground-floor exhibition hall. Beginning on May 12, members of the public will be able to observe conservators at work and follow the different stages of the restoration through September 5, 2026.
“Opening such a delicate and complex restoration to the public means sharing not only the final result, but also the process of knowledge that accompanies every conservation intervention,” explains Andreina Contessa, director general of the Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze and the Bargello Museums. “Visitors will be able to observe the restorers’ work closely and appreciate technical, material and artistic details that often remain invisible to the untrained eye.”
About Benvenuto Cellini’s Perseus
Sculpted between 1549 and 1553 on commission from Cosimo I de’ Medici, the marble base was designed to accompany Cellini’s famous bronze Perseus for the Loggia dei Lanzi. It is now housed in the Michelangelo and 16th-Century Sculpture Hall of the Bargello Museum. The pedestal was conceived as an ornate altar filled with symbolic references with goat protomes at the corners alluding to Capricorn, the zodiac sign associated with Cosimo I. Decorative motifs featuring torches and grotesque masks symbolize the triumph of truth over deception, while female herm figures representing Diana of Ephesus evoke fertility and abundance. Bronze statuettes placed within the niches depict Jupiter, Minerva, Mercury and Danaë with the infant Perseus.
First major intervention in nearly 30 years
The restoration marks the first major conservation campaign on the base since work carried out between 1995 and 2000. Museum officials say the intervention is needed to stabilize deterioration and improve the sculpture’s visual coherence, which has been affected by discolouration and structural inconsistencies over time. In addition to the marble pedestal and its bronze statuettes, restorers will also work on Perseus’s original iron sword, normally displayed in the museum’s Armoury Gallery. The project is being led by conservators Martina Paladini, responsible for the bronzes and sword, and Nicoletta Carniel and Laura Benucci, who will oversee the marble base, under the supervision of Chiara Valcepina.
A turbulent conservation history
The conservation history of Cellini’s Perseus base is closely tied to the upheavals of modern Italian history. During the Second World War, the sculpture and its pedestal were moved beneath the Loggia dei Lanzi to protect them from wartime bombing. In 1945, renowned restorer Bruno Bearzi was tasked with reinstalling Florence’s major bronze sculptures after the danger had passed. During that intervention, Bearzi reinforced the anchoring system connecting the statue to its base and replaced Perseus’s original iron sword with the bronze replica still visible today. The original sword was transferred to the Bargello Museum in 1980, along with the bronze relief depicting Perseus Freeing Andromeda and the four bronze statuettes from the base, all removed from the Loggia dei Lanzi because of ongoing deterioration concerns. Judged unsuitable for return to its outdoor setting, the marble base was permanently transferred to the Bargello Museum in 2000, where it was reunited with the bronze sculptures.
