\u201cYou have to \u2026 tell her she\u2019s going to look love\u00adly,\u201d she says, above, spread\u00ading var\u00adnish over a 16th-cen\u00adtu\u00adry por\u00adtrait of Isabel\u00adla de\u2019 Medici<\/a> pri\u00ador to start\u00ading the labo\u00adri\u00adous process of restor\u00ading years of wear and tear by inpaint\u00ading<\/a> with tiny brush\u00ades, aid\u00aded with pipettes of var\u00adnish and sol\u00advent.<\/p>\n Isabel\u00adla had been wait\u00ading a long time for such ten\u00adder atten\u00adtion, con\u00adcealed beneath a 19th-cen\u00adtu\u00adry over\u00adpaint\u00ading depict\u00ading a dain\u00adtier fea\u00adtured woman reput\u00aded to be Eleanor of Tole\u00addo<\/a>, wife of Cosi\u00admo I de\u2019 Medici, the sec\u00adond Duke of Flo\u00adrence<\/a>.<\/p>\n Louise Lip\u00adpin\u00adcott<\/a>, the CMA\u2019s for\u00admer cura\u00adtor of fine arts, ran across the work in the museum\u2019s base\u00adment stor\u00adage. Records named the artist as Bronzi\u00adno, court painter to Cosi\u00admo I, but Lip\u00adpin\u00adcott, who thought the paint\u00ading \u201cawful\u201d, brought it to Ellen Bax\u00adter for a sec\u00adond opin\u00adion.<\/p>\n As Cristi\u00adna Rou\u00advalis<\/a> writes in Carnegie Mag\u00ada\u00adzine<\/a>, Bax\u00adter is a \u201crare mix of left- and right-brained tal\u00adent\u201d, a painter with a bachelor\u2019s degree in art his\u00adto\u00adry, minors in chem\u00adistry and physics, and a master\u2019s degree in art con\u00adser\u00adva\u00adtion:<\/p>\n (She) looks at paint\u00adings dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u00adly than oth\u00ader peo\u00adple, too\u2014not as flat, sta\u00adt\u00adic objects, but as three-dimen\u00adsion\u00adal com\u00adpo\u00adsi\u00adtions lay\u00adered like lasagna.<\/p>\n The minute she saw the oil paint\u00ading pur\u00adport\u00aded to be of Eleanor of Tole\u00addo\u2026 Bax\u00adter knew some\u00adthing wasn\u2019t quite right. The face was too bland\u00adly pret\u00adty, \u201clike a Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan cook\u00adie tin box lid,\u201d she says. Upon exam\u00adin\u00ading the back of the paint\u00ading, she identified\u2014thanks to a trusty Google search\u2014the stamp of Fran\u00adcis Leed\u00adham<\/a>, who worked at the Nation\u00adal Por\u00adtrait Gallery<\/a> in Lon\u00addon in the mid-1800s as a \u201crelin\u00ader,\u201d trans\u00adfer\u00adring paint\u00adings from a wood pan\u00adel to can\u00advas mount. The painstak\u00ading process involves scrap\u00ading and sand\u00ading away the pan\u00adel from back to front and then glu\u00ading the paint\u00aded sur\u00adface lay\u00ader to a new can\u00advas.<\/p>\n An x\u2011ray con\u00adfirmed her hunch, reveal\u00ading extra lay\u00aders of paint in this \u201clasagna\u201d.<\/p>\n Care\u00adful strip\u00adping of dirty var\u00adnish and Vic\u00adto\u00adri\u00adan paint in the areas of the por\u00adtrait\u2019s face and hands began to reveal the much stronger fea\u00adtures of the woman who posed for the artist. (The Carnegie is bank\u00ading on Bronzino\u2019s stu\u00addent, Alessan\u00addro Allori<\/a>, or some\u00adone in his cir\u00adcle.)<\/p>\n Lip\u00adpin\u00adcott was also busi\u00adly sleuthing, find\u00ading a Medici-com\u00admis\u00adsioned copy of the paint\u00ading in Vien\u00adna that matched the dress and hair exact\u00adly. Thus\u00adly did she learn that the sub\u00adject was Eleanor of Toledo\u2019s daugh\u00adter, Isabel\u00adla de\u2019 Medici<\/a>, the apple of her father\u2019s eye and a noto\u00adri\u00adous, ulti\u00admate\u00adly ill-fat\u00aded par\u00adty girl. <\/p>\n The His\u00adto\u00adry Blog<\/a> paints an irre\u00adsistible por\u00adtrait of this mav\u00ader\u00adick princess:<\/p>\n Cosi\u00admo gave her an excep\u00adtion\u00adal amount of free\u00addom for a noble\u00adwoman of her time. She ran her own house\u00adhold, and after Eleanor\u2019s death in 1562, Isabel\u00adla ran her father\u2019s too. She threw famous\u00adly rau\u00adcous par\u00adties and spent lav\u00adish\u00adly. Her father always cov\u00adered her debts and pro\u00adtect\u00aded her from scruti\u00adny even as rumors of her lovers and excess\u00ades that would have doomed oth\u00ader soci\u00adety women spread far and wide. Her favorite lover was said to be Troi\u00adlo Orsi\u00adni, her hus\u00adband Paolo\u2019s cousin.<\/p>\n Things went down\u00adhill fast for Isabel\u00adla after her father\u2019s death in 1574. Her broth\u00ader Francesco was now the Grand Duke, and he had no inter\u00adest in indulging his sister\u2019s pec\u00adca\u00addil\u00adloes. We don\u2019t know what hap\u00adpened exact\u00adly, but in 1576 Isabel\u00adla died at the Medici Vil\u00adla of Cer\u00adre\u00adto Gui\u00addi near Empoli. The offi\u00adcial sto\u00adry released by Francesco was that his 34-year-old sis\u00adter dropped dead sud\u00adden\u00adly while wash\u00ading her hair. The unof\u00adfi\u00adcial sto\u00adry is that she was stran\u00adgled by her hus\u00adband out of revenge for her adul\u00adtery and\/or to clear the way for him to mar\u00adry his own mis\u00adtress Vit\u00adto\u00adria Acco\u00adram\u00adboni.<\/p>\n Bax\u00adter not\u00aded that the urn Isabel\u00adla holds was not part of the paint\u00ading to begin with, though nei\u00adther was it one of Leedham\u2019s revi\u00adsions. Its resem\u00adblance to the urn that Mary Mag\u00adda\u00adlene is often depict\u00aded using as she anoints Jesus\u2019 feet led her and Lip\u00adpin\u00adcott to spec\u00adu\u00adlate that it was added at Isabella\u2019s request, in an attempt to redeem her image.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is lit\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly the bad girl see\u00ading the light,\u201d Lip\u00adpin\u00adcott told Rou\u00advalis.<\/p>\n Despite her fond\u00adness for the sub\u00adject of the lib\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded paint\u00ading, and her con\u00adsid\u00ader\u00adable skill as an artist, Bax\u00adter resist\u00aded the temp\u00adta\u00adtion to embell\u00adish beyond what she found:<\/p>\n I\u2019m not the artist. I\u2019m the con\u00adser\u00adva\u00adtor. It\u2019s my job to repair dam\u00adages and loss\u00ades, to not put myself in the paint\u00ading.<\/p>\n Note: An ear\u00adli\u00ader ver\u00adsion of this post appeared on our site in 2023.<\/p>\n Relat\u00aded Con\u00adtent\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n How Art Con\u00adser\u00adva\u00adtors Restore Old Paint\u00adings & Revive Their Orig\u00adi\u00adnal Col\u00adors<\/a><\/p>\n The Art of Restor\u00ading a 400-Year-Old Paint\u00ading: A Five-Minute Primer<\/a><\/p>\n Watch the Tate Mod\u00adern Restore Mark Rothko\u2019s Van\u00addal\u00adized Paint\u00ading,\u00a0Black on Maroon: 18 Months of Work Con\u00addensed Into 17 Min\u00adutes<\/a><\/p>\n A Restored Ver\u00admeer Paint\u00ading Reveals a Por\u00adtrait of a Cupid Hid\u00adden for Over 350 Years<\/a><\/p>\n How an Art Con\u00adser\u00adva\u00adtor Com\u00adplete\u00adly Restores a Dam\u00adaged Paint\u00ading: A Short, Med\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtive Doc\u00adu\u00admen\u00adtary<\/a><\/p>\n Watch the Renais\u00adsance Paint\u00ading,\u00a0The Bat\u00adtle of San Romano, Get Brought Beau\u00adti\u00adful\u00adly to Life in a Hand-Paint\u00aded Ani\u00adma\u00adtion<\/a><\/p>\n Free Course: An Intro\u00adduc\u00adtion to the Art of the Ital\u00adian Renais\u00adsance<\/a><\/p>\n \u2013\u00a0Ayun Hal\u00adl\u00adi\u00adday<\/a> is the author of Cre\u00adative, Not Famous: The Small Pota\u00adto Man\u00adi\u00adfesto<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Cre\u00adative, Not Famous Activ\u00adi\u00adty Book<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some peo\u00adple talk to plants. The Carnegie Muse\u00adum of Art\u2019s chief con\u00adser\u00adva\u00adtor Ellen Bax\u00adter talks to the paint\u00adings…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":236220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,1033,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-236219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115225032361960278","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Behind-the-Scenes-The-Restoration-of-Isabella-de-Medici-.jpeg\")
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