Hi, DUers. Time for your Friday Afternoon Challenge: “The Connection”!

[CTyankee]

57. You are RIGHT!

They are all artworks that were hidden in a castle in Montegufoni in Tuscany to keep them safe from wartime bombings of WW2. Most, but not all, had resided in the Uffizi in Florence. The major force behind this effort was Giovanni Poggi, superintendent of Galleries of Florence, Arezzo and Pistoia. Some 38 such repositories were used, primarily in Tuscany ( the artworks from the Veneto were sent to the Vatican for safekeeping). The so-called “Monuments Men,” primarily made up of art professors and historians in the U.S. (several from Yale) and U.K., served in the Allied forces to preserve and protect Italy’s art patrimony once the invasion of Italy was begun, from 1943 to the end of the war (known as the Italian Campaign). Here is a review of a newly published account of of this effort: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323744604578474901096756108.html

The art works that were too big to move or frescoes were protected in situ. Scaffolding was placed around the David at the Accademia and cushioned with thick padding. Then the entire statue was entombed in brick.

I have just finished reading "Saving Italy" by Robert Edsel, who also wrote "The Monument Men" and "Saving DaVinci." This is the 4th book on the MM that I have read, so it is something of a hobby of mine!

"The Monument Men" is now being made into a movie directed by and starring George Clooney, also featuring Matt Damon and Kate Blanchett. It will be released in December. I'm really looking forward to it.

The works in Montegufoni were largely unharmed (there was some minor damage to Pontormo's Visitation, shown here). And they were never stolen. So I guess I "gave away" the answer in my early response to the query that they were stolen by the Nazis! Unfortunately, other repositories were not so lucky. Once the Germans found out about them, the ransacking began (they called it "protecting" at first because Italy was an ally, but soon just hauled away what they wanted). The two Cranachs, Adam and Eve, owned by the Uffizi, were taken earlier from another castle as a special gift to the Fuehrer, since the Germans valued the art of Germany and the North over Italian art.

I didn't included La Primavera in the Challenge because I could see that on that painting's Wikipedia page, its removal to Montegufoni is noted. I knew that once I gave that hint, folks would have their answer!

Interestingly, the works were primarily moved by the Italians themselves to keep them from bombing damage by the Allies after the invasion of Italy. The Monument Men provided bombadiers with maps marked with locations of art work or architecture that should be avoided if at all possible. In Florence, that effort was spectacularly successful. However, the saddest part of the book is the account of the Germans blowing up every bridge in Florence except the Ponte Vecchio as they were retreating from the Allies. By order of Hitler himself, the Ponte Vecchio was spared. But the far greater architectural treasure, Santa Trinita (designed by Michelangelo), was reduced to rubble.

There is a considerable amount of this book devoted to the bombing that nearly destroyed Leonardo's Last Supper in Milan but it suffered greatly from bombs dropped next to the church where it resides. The MM tried heroically to restore what they could. However, this fresco was doomed from the moment Leonardo started it, since he experimented with paints and with painting it on dry wall, not wet, as true frescoes are done. It began to flake quite early on and is in very bad shape today.