The Director of the Polo museale of Sardinia, Giovanna Damiani is presenting the book Il Retablo perduto (The lost Retablo), written by Francesco Tamponi. The event will take place in the conference room of the Pinacoteca nazionale of Cagliari on Friday 24 January, 2020, at 17.30.
The innovative research is based on an accurate investigation aimed to find the surviving panels from an imposing retablo by the Maestro of Castelsardo. The identity of the artist is unknown but his activities can be traced mainly to the northern Sardinia between the fifteenth and the sixteenth century. One of his most important works, the Retablo della Porziuncola, is exhibited in The Pinacoteca nazionale of Cagliari.
The study confirms that the work was commissioned and designed to embellish the main altar of the Cattedrale di Sant’Antonio Abate in Castelsardo. For the first time it was possible to reconstruct its components in a timely manner, such as the dimensions, the themes, and the iconography.
The work of the Maestro of Castelsardo, unknown until now, will be revealed through a great array of unpublished documents, introduced by the art historian Claudio Strinati, and the use of scientific analyses of the Raman spectrography led by the professors of the Engineering University of Cagliari Francesco Delogu, Pier Carlo Ricci, and Anna Laura Sanna.
The non identified image that has always been present inside the cathedral of Castelsardo is the ancient simulacrum of Saint Antonio Abate. The carving is the turning point that the publication documents, opening new research horizons, and enriching all the studies about the artist until now.