Apollo Belvedere returns after 5 years of restoration – The

After a five-year restoration that cost $280,000 to repair serious structural flaws and undergo a thorough cleaning, the iconic Apollo Belvedere statue has reappeared in the Vatican Museums.

The larger-than-life statue of Apollo, discovered in 1489 in the ruins of an ancient Domus on Viminal Hill, is an early 2nd century Roman marble statue dating from around 330 B.C. Copy of a Greek bronze, probably created by the Athenian sculptor Leochares. Participated in the construction of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It depicts the god, naked except for his sandals and a cloak draped over his shoulders, having just shot an arrow from his bow. It is in excellent condition, almost intact, missing only the left hand and right forearm (and the bow, which was originally a metal fitting held by the left hand).

The statue was immediately purchased by Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, future patron of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Giuliano della Rovere was elected pope and ascended to the throne of Peter as Julius II in 1503. In 1508 he moved the Apollo to the Cortile del Belvedere, an enclosed courtyard that connected the Vatican Palace to Villa Belvedere. Villa Belvedere is the papal summer residence. The top of the Vatican. Immediately after his election, Julius hired Renaissance architect Bramante to design the courtyard, part of which would be niches and dedicated spaces to display his flourishing collection of ancient statues. The statue of Apollo is the centerpiece of the Vatican Museums’ vast collection of ancient sculpture.

Once the Apollo Observatory was exhibited in the courtyard, it immediately became famous and was widely copied and studied by artists across Europe. In the mid-18th century, German art historian Johann Joachim Winkelmann praised it as the pinnacle of Greek classical aesthetics. “Of all the ancient works that have survived,” he wrote, “the statue of Apollo represents the highest ideals of art.” After Napoleon’s victory in Italy in 1796, it was listed among the greatest works of art stolen from Italy shortlist, and the work was on display at the Louvre from 1798 to 1815.

It was restored once early (between 1532 and 1533) by Giovannangelo Montorsoli, who replaced the missing left hand and replaced the damaged right forearm. He added a chunk to the tree trunk next to Apollo to serve as a support for the new forearm. The Apollo was also restored by sculptor Antonia Canova after it returned to Rome in 1816 from Napoleon’s captivity in Paris. Canova installed an additional support on the base.

In December 2019, regular monitoring of the statue revealed that Apollo’s legs were in a dangerously fragile state and Canova’s support was no longer sufficient. The restorers took an innovative approach to solving this problem, providing additional support in the form of arched carbon fiber rods fixed to the base. It carried most of the statue’s 330-pound weight, allowing Apollo’s graceful but fragile legs to lighten the weight.

The restorers also replaced Montossoli’s left hand with a more accurate copy, a model taken from the “Hand of Baia”, a fragment of another Roman copy of the Greek statue, which was cast in plaster made. They thoroughly but carefully cleaned the statue, bringing it closer to its original appearance, revealing a previously unknown purple color in the god’s rich curls. Experts believe the marks are traces of a solution used when applying gold leaf to his hair or the laurel wreath he wore.