Donatello’s Gattamelata Is Moved Indoors in Padua as €1 Million Restoration Raises Questions About Its Future
For the first time since the Second World War, Donatello’s “Gattamelata” has been lifted from its familiar perch in Padua’s main square and brought indoors for conservation — a rare intervention for one of the Renaissance’s defining bronzes. The move, carried out last October, marks only the third time in almost six centuries that the monumental equestrian statue has left the piazza. Whether it will return outdoors after treatment remains an open question.
Completed in 1453, the sculpture commemorates Erasmo da Narni, the formidable 15th-century condottiere better known by his nickname Gattamelata (“the honeyed cat”). Serving the Venetian Republic during its wars with Milan, he became the subject of a work that helped reset the possibilities of bronze sculpture in the early modern period.
Donatello rendered the commander as an idealized, life-size rider astride a powerful horse, a composition that consciously echoes the ancient equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius on Rome’s Capitoline Hill, made more than 1,200 years earlier. Cast from 36 separate pieces, the bronze traditionally stands on a stone podium nearly eight meters high outside the Basilica of Saint Anthony of Padua.
The latest relocation was prompted by concerns that the monument may be suffering from “bronze cancer,” a corrosive condition affecting copper alloys that can manifest as dark green staining and progressive deterioration. The statue had previously been brought indoors for temporary protection during the First and Second World Wars.
Funding for the analysis, relocation, and restoration totals €1 million, supported by two American non-profit organizations focused on cultural heritage: Friends of Florence and Save Venice. Each has contributed €550,000. “Gattamelata is one of the most important equestrian monuments in the world,” said Simonetta Brandolini d’Adda, the president of Friends of Florence.
The question of where the original should ultimately live has long been contentious. In 2022, the basilica’s Pontifical Delegation — the custodians of the work — considered moving the statue indoors permanently and installing a replica outside. The proposal drew public opposition from Vittorio Sgarbi, an art critic who at the time served as a junior culture minister. “The creation of a faithful copy to replace the original must be categorically ruled out,” he said, praising what he called the “indomitable resilience of Donatello’s masterpiece.”
Rather than committing to a permanent relocation, conservators initially kept the statue in the square while scaffolding went up for preliminary checks of condition and stability. Those early assessments relied on visual examination and technical tools including micro cameras, endoscopes, and 3D modeling. The findings pointed to the need for deeper investigation and treatment in a controlled indoor environment.
A former museum hall roughly 80 meters from the monument’s usual site was selected for the next phase. The transfer itself unfolded over two days and required careful separation of the mounted figure from the horse. Conservators placed the rider in a custom wooden-and-metal support, then used a crane to lift the 1.6-ton horse.
Indoors, the team has gained access to the bronze’s interior, where gaps between horse and rider had allowed rainwater, pigeon droppings, and animal remains to collect over time. Advanced diagnostic testing has included ground-penetrating radar and ultrasound. “We can say its condition is not great, but it’s not disastrous either,” said Ugo Soragni, the project’s scientific director.
Work is also underway on the outdoor pedestal, which has developed cracks attributed to weathering, vibrations from traffic, and complications linked to a post-war repositioning in 1945. After that reinstallation, the horse reportedly leaned heavily on two hooves, creating long-term stress. “Many of these problems derive from when they put it back up after the Second World War,” said Melissa Conn, the Venice office director for Save Venice. Conservators are now stabilizing the base and securing it more firmly to the ground to reduce the risk of collapse in the event of an earthquake.
As analysis continues, specialists say the project is also sharpening understanding of Donatello’s methods, including evidence of gilding along the saddle outline and on elements of the armor, and the precision with which individual bronze sections were fused.
The restoration’s final results are expected to inform decisions by the Pontifical Delegation and the Soprintendenza, the Italian culture ministry’s local heritage authority, about the statue’s long-term placement. For now, Padua’s most famous rider waits indoors — suspended between the demands of preservation and the power of a public monument in its original setting.
