The removal from the wall of Palazzo San Pantalon was carried out in consultation with people close to the secretive British street artist, according to officials at the Venice-based bank Banca Ifis’s art programme that promotes art and culture.
The artwork depicting a shipwrecked child holding a pink smoke bomb and wearing a lifejacket appeared along Rio di San Pantalon in Venice in May 2019, and was acknowledged by Banksy. Marked on online maps, it has become a tourist destination.
Banksy’s The Migrant Child is removed from the facade of Palazzo San Pantalon in Venice (Ifis Art via AP)
But six years of neglect had led to the deterioration of about a third of the work, the bank said.
The restoration is being overseen by Federico Borgogni, who previously removed dust and cleaned the surface before detaching a section of the palazzo’s facade overnight on Wednesday, Banca Ifis said.
The bank is financing the project, but did not release the cost of the operation.
The bank intends to display the work to the public as part of free cultural events organised by Ifis art once restoration is completed. No time frame was given.