Madonna col Bambino e due putti, Jacopo Sansovino, 1532
IPAV (Istituzioni Pubbliche di Assistenza Veneziane), Venice

Venetian Heritage is financing the  restoration, at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure, of the papier-mâché sculpture Madonna col Bambino e due putti, attributed to Jacopo Sansovino, which came from the Ospizio delle Muneghette in Venice. The sculptural group was found in a state of total degradation in the late 1970s and is owned by IPAV (Istituzioni Pubbliche di Assistenza Veneziane).
The work is attributed to the Florentine Jacopo Tatti, known as Sansovino (Florence, 1486 – Venice, 1570), who sought refuge in Venice following the Sack of Rome in 1527 when the Eternal City was sacked by the troops of the Landsknechts sent by Emperor Charles V. The flight of artists from the court of Clemente VII de’ Medici led to the spread of Mannerism. Shortly after he arrived in the lagoon, Sansovino was appointed proto (chief architect) of the Basilica of St. Mark, then the ducal chapel, and with the support of influential figures such as Pietro Aretino and Titian, he became the leading figure in Venetian architecture and sculpture in the 16th century. The Madonna col Bambino e due putti underwent an initial restoration in the 1970s, which only partially solved the sculpture’s structural problems. Made of papier-mâché, it is hollow inside and extremely delicate. Currently, a meticulous conservation intervention is underway at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence, aimed not only at a new aesthetic presentation but also at solving the sculpture’s structural problems.
The restoration of the sculpture has been made possible thanks to a donation from Eduardo A. Braniff.