Restoration of Cimabue’s La Maestà
Harry and Linda Fath, longtime donors from Cincinnati, have generously sponsored the restoration of “The Madonna and Child in Majesty, Surrounded by Angels” by the great Cimabue, master of the Italian Byzantine. Conservation of this 13th-century altarpiece painting of immense proportions, also known as “La Maestà,” is being overseen by Thomas Bohl, curator of 13th – 16th Italian paintings in the Department of Paintings, in association with L’Atelier Séraphin.
For many experts, the representation of space, body and light in this artwork signals the birth of modern painting. Cimabue led the artistic movement in late 12th-century Tuscany that sought to renew the pictorial vocabulary and break with the rigidity of Byzantine art. Cimabue’s increased sense of humanity led the way for early Italian Renaissance artists such as Giotto.
The Faths are members of AFL’s International Council and have a long history of supporting the Louvre. First engaged by former President-Director of the Louvre, Henri Loyrette, with whom they remain close, the couple has made multiple grants to AFL, benefitting the renovation of galleries, the restoration of the Arc du Carrousel and the trilingual translation of wall labels and text panels to aid the Louvre’s international visitors.