ミケランジェロの「ダビデ像」、２か月に１回の清掃作業

【フィレンツェＡＦＰ＝時事】イタリア・フィレンツェのアカデミア美術館では、ルネサンスの巨匠ミケランジェロの彫刻作品「ダビデ像」の清掃作業を２か月に１回行っている。（写真はフィレンツェのアカデミア美術館でミケランジェロの彫刻「ダビデ像」の清掃作業にあたる保存修復士のエレノア・プッチさん）
　１５０４年に完成した作品は、１５０年前からアカデミア美術館に収蔵されている。高さ５．１メートルの像は、巨大な大理石の塊から制作された。昨年は２００万人以上が同美術館を訪れた。
　清掃作業は、専属の保存修復士であるエレノア・プッチさんによって行われる。
　「頻繁に清掃することができないため、近くで像を見ると全体に糸くずのようなほこりがたまっている」「見た目もよくないし、美術館にはふさわしくない」と館長のセシル・ホルバーグ氏は集まった報道陣に語った。
　美術館全体の清掃作業については、「すべての作品に敬意を払い、尊厳を保持させたいと考えている」と説明した。
　■「繊細な作業」
　清掃はまず、周囲に足場を組み、その後、現状確認のための写真撮影をする。ホルバーグ氏いわく、これはダビデ像の「健康状態」を確認するための作業だ。
　作業を担当するプッチさんは、バックパック式の集じん機を背負い、作品表面のほこりをブラシで優しく払う。この時、集じん機のノズルが作品に触れないよう細心の注意が欠かせない。
　肩や頭部を作業する際には、カールのかかった髪の部分にクモの巣が張っていることがあるため、像に顔を近づけて細部まで確認する。
　ホルバーグ氏は「作品の保全には１センチ四方ずつ細部まで見なくてはならない。繊細な作業で集中力が必要」と説明。「ダビデ像の状態は良好」だと続けた。
　ダビデ像の清掃作業は足場を組むため、開始から終了まで約半日かかる。
　ダビデ像はミケランジェロが２９歳で完成させた。当初は、フィレンツェのシニョリーア広場に置かれていたが、１８７３年にアカデミア美術館に移設された。現在、シニョリーア広場にはレプリカが設置されている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/02/21-19:12）

Even the David gets dusty.
Every two months, Michelangelo's masterpiece completed in 1504 undergoes a careful cleaning at its home in Florence's Accademia Gallery, where it has resided for over 150 years.
Considered by many awestruck viewers to represent the perfect man, the 17-foot-high (5.1 metre) sculpture carved from a single block of marble stands alone under the skylight of the domed gallery on Mondays, when the museum is closed.
His personal restorer, Eleonora Pucci, climbs on a scaffolding for an up-close view -- part of a monitoring and cleaning ritual necessary for the preservation of the Renaissance icon visited by over two million visitors last year.
Despite David's good looks and Biblical heritage, the slayer of Goliath needs upkeep.
A statue that doesn't get dusted regularly, if you get close and look at it from bottom to top, you'll see a form of lint, the museum's director, Cecilie Hollberg, told a group of journalists Monday.
It's not pretty and it's not worthy of the work of art that we preserve in this museum, Hollberg said.
David's bi-monthly cleaning, then, is a form of respect, a form of dignity that we want to give to every work.
- 'Delicate work' -
With a furrow in his brow, a vein bulging on his neck, his weight squarely on his right foot and his sling held in his left hand, David remains focused on Goliath, oblivious to the primping going on around him.
Pucci, a petite woman wearing a white laboratory coat, white hard hat, jeans and sneakers, scrambles to the top of the scaffolding where she begins taking photos to monitor David's state of health, Hollberg said.
After strapping a portable vacuum onto her back, the dusting begins.
With careful sweeping motions, Pucci glides a soft synthetic brush across the David's bent left arm, steering the particles from his forearm into the nozzle of the vacuum, which never touches the statue.
Next is his left thigh, where her delicate brush traces the muscles carved by Michelangelo into the Carrara marble, before the scaffolding is shifted and Pucci is once again at work on David's back.
As the scaffold wiggles despite being locked, Pucci strokes David's shoulders with her brush while leaning in to examine his curly locks -- where spiders sometimes leave tiny webs.
It?s very delicate work, requiring a lot of concentration, and it needs monitoring centimetre by centimetre in order to control the state of preservation of the work -- which is in great condition, Hollberg said.
Dust deposits left behind are capable of compromising the marble's lustre, rendering it greyer and duller.
Smooth parts are easier to clean than the rougher areas, which are more apt to grab dust.
The filters in the museum's state-of-the-art air conditioning system have cut back considerably on air particles, however, while sensors help control temperature and humidity levels, Hollberg said.
The cleaning takes at least half a day due to the scaffolding involved and other statues and paintings in the museum get similar treatment, she said.
The first colossus since ancient times and the symbol of Florence, Michelangelo's David was unveiled at the dawn of the 16th century to a rapt public in the Renaissance city's main square, the Piazza della Signoria.
Michelangelo was only 29 when he finished his masterpiece.
It stayed in the piazza until 1873 when it was moved to its current location, with the museum literally built around it.
A copy now stands in the Piazza della Signoria.
Other masterpieces of the museum, Michelangelo's Slaves -- which were designed for the tomb of Pope Julius II but never completed -- arrived later in 1939.