Touched/Retouched: Paper across Time (1400–1800)

Francesca Borgo, Camilla Colzani, and Alice Ottazzi

To retouch’, ‘retoucher’, ‘ritoccare’: the term first appears in Cennino Cennini’s Book of Art (c. 1400) to indicate small interventions, additions, or alterations carried out after the artwork’s completion. The shape, form, and condition of premodern works on paper reveal that physical manipulations were numerous and complex. But while paintings are naturally understood as layered structures, we often assume paper objects to be materially less complex and stratified. This could not be further from the truth: unlike paintings, paper objects can be altered quickly and easily. More responsive and sensitive than canvas or panel, their support registers changes in ownership, taste, and interest.
The research project aims to investigate different types of voluntary interventions on works of art on paper (drawings and prints) in the early modern period (1400–1800). To this end, it was decided to organize a week-long workshop in Rome (11–17 November 2024), aimed at curators and drawing scholars, during which participants took part in practical workshops, scientific seminars, and study trips on the subject. The participating institutes, the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica and the Bibliotheca Hertziana, each hosted two sessions. One was a practical part at the Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, led by Giorgio Marini and Gabriella Pace, which offered case studies: some drawings and prints from the Corsini collection, which have been specially retouched for conservation reasons or to alter their figurative representation. The other portion, at the Bibliotheca Hertziana and under the supervision of Francesca Borgo, hosted sessions with lectures by drawing scholars who together addressed various topics related to the material alteration of drawings and prints for collection or conservation purposes; the impact that these interventions have had on the works’ assets and their material preservation, a vision of drawing as a layered object that bears the signs of time. The itinerary included a study trip to Fabriano , where the Museum of Paper and Watermarks preserves the historical memory of this town, which is fundamental to the Italian paper tradition.