Assumption of the Virgin at the Basilica of St. Mary Major, is part of the decoration on the chapel designed by Michelangelo for Cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza of Santa Fiora, nephew of Pope Paul III. This major work is Siciolante’s last phase, influenced by Buonarroti’s late style. It is essential to mention Giovanni Baglione’s Nine Churches (1639) and Lives (1642), the first to describe “the chapel of the Sforza noblemen with a façade, pilasters, and frontispiece of broken travertines, beautifully designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti Fiorentino.” It is also worth mentioning the work of Girolamo da Siciolante’s altar, “the painted Virgin assumed with the Apostles.”
Restoration Procedures
- Wood support structure: survey the complex metal support structure applied in 2001 and evaluate the functionality of the wood movement containment system
- Implementation of the modifications, to be decided
- Pictorial film: adhesion of the numerous lifts
- Removal of Japanese paper glazing
- Light cleaning, plastering, reintegration, and balancing of the final paint job
