Beyond the archive. Keys to reading and testimonies of Pinin Brambilla to read his archive
This year, the Restoration Conservation Centre ‘La Venaria Reale’ (CCR) is taking part in Archived proposing digital content the Pinin Brambilla Barcilon Archive.
The theme of this edition, ‘What is not there’, is set out in a selection of archival video materials collected by the Centre’s staff at the time when the reorganisation of its archive began (2019).
The video-interview, presented at the conference for the 100th anniversary of the birth of the restorer (Pinin Brambilla Barcilon 100 years since birth – 1 December 2025, ‘La Venaria Reale’ Conservation Centre), has been reworked for the edition of Archivissima 2026.
The words tell what the images testify visually and help to return the aspects that are less visible through the archival documentation: the reasons for the archive, the organisation of the work, the intimate and emotional dimension of the work face to face with the greatest masterpieces of art.
Pinin Brambilla Barcilon
Pinin Brambilla Barcilon (Monza, 1 December 1925 – Milan, 12 December 2020) is one of the most important figures in the restoration of the twentieth century, known throughout the world for having carried out the memorable restoration of theThe Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci in the Convent of the Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan (from 1978 to 1999) and for interventions on some of the greatest masterpieces of Italian art. These include the paintings of Giotto in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, the frescoes of Masolino da Panicale in the Baptistery of Castiglione Olona, the early medieval frescoes of Oleggio and the fifteenth-century ones of Palazzo Borromeo in Milan. Piero della Francesca, the Pollaiolo, Filippino Lippi, Crivelli, Mantegna, Lorenzo Lotto, Gentile Bellini, Bronzino, Caravaggio, Titian, Tiepolo, as well as numerous artists of modern and contemporary art (including Lucio Fontana and Man Ray), are some of the great masters to whom she has dedicated herself. An integral part of his career were professional collaborations with scientific and research institutes, such as the Politecnico di Milano and the Istituto Superiore per la Conservazione e il Restauro di Roma, and discussions and discussions with art historians, superintendents and museum directors such as Giovanni Romano, Carlo Bertelli, Cesare Brandi, Stella Matalon, Pietro Marani, Giovanna Rotondi Terminiello, Bruno Zanardi, Gianluigi Colalucci and Annamaria Spiazzi.
There are also important assignments abroad, such as collaboration with the Louvre in Paris or the Catalan Art Museum in Barcelona, as well as conferences and seminars at major universities and cultural institutes (Washington, Chicago, New Delhi, London, New York, Toronto, Sydney, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Basel, Oslo, Stockholm). From 1970 to 1990 she participated as an active member of the ICC Committee of ICOM (Contemporary Paintings) and from 1984 to 1993 she was a member of the Réunions annuas du groupe peintures murales et mosaïques du C.C. (Comité de Conservation) of ICOM at the Laboratoire des Monuments Historiques de France à Champs sur Marne.
From 2005 to 2012 he directed the laboratories of the Centro Conservazione Restauro ‘La Venaria Reale’, a centre for the university training of restorers and advanced research in the field of cultural heritage. In 2011-2012 he was a member of the Scientific Committee for the Restoration of Leonardo’s Saint Anne in the Louvre. On 27 September 2019, the University of Turin awarded her a degree honoris causa in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage.
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