flesh-eating bacteria
Alexandra Larkin
Tue, June 22, 2021
Nearly 500 years ago, Duke Alessandro de Medici was lured with the promise of spending the night with a beautiful widow, but instead met the end of a knife from an assassin — hired by his cousin — who stabbed him to death. The ruler of Florence's body was placed in his father's tomb.
Now? He's leaking.
Italian art historians and restorers noticed in 2019 that the marble statues in the Medici Chapel, which was commissioned entirely by Michelangelo, were starting to appear dirtier than usual. Staining had been recorded as early as 1595, but the tools to remove it didn't exist then.
In November 2019, Italy's National Research Council figured out what was behind the grime: Bodily fluids leaking from the improperly embalmed corpse of Alessandro de Medici, along with other compounds accumulated over time from glue and plaster. Alessandro's fluids had seeped into the statues of Dusk and Dawn that adorned his father's tomb.
Anna Rosa Sprocati, a biologist at the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, hand-picked from her catalog of more than 1,000 bacteria to test against the stains. They had successes and failures, with some of the bacteria eating not just the human remains, but the delicate Carrera marble, too. But the chapel's museum believed that bacteria would be more effective than harsh chemicals or abrasives.
One of the statues stained by Alessandro de Medici's improperly embalmed corpse, before its bacterial bath. / Credit: Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images
Sprocati's all-female team picked the eight most promising bacteria and tested them on a gridded section behind the altar of the church. The ones that worked were then put on the tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo, specifically the statues of Night and Day. The bacteria successfully cleaned Night's hair and eyes of accumulated residue.
After a brief pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team released their best flesh-eating bacteria, Serratia ficaria SH7, by way of a microbial gel onto the tomb that was becoming stained. There were even button-shaped deformations.
"SH7 ate Alessandro," Monica Bietti, the Medici Chapels Museum's former director, told The New York Times.
"It ate the whole night," said restorer Marina Vincenti, according to the news outlet.
Visitors can book tickets to the Medici Chapel online.
Flesh-Eating Bacteria Save Michelangelo Sculptures From Destruction
Michael Walsh
Thu, June 24, 2021
Michelangelo
Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet (1475-1564)
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” That’s how the great Michelangelo described his process of turning stone slabs into stunning works of art. That approach clearly worked for him. His impossibly long list of masterpieces includes “The David” and “La Pietà .”
But some of his sculptures involved more than just freeing the work within. They involved putting someone’s remains inside of them. Like his tomb where Florence’s Duke Alessandro de Medici rests. Which caused a problem even a brilliant mind like Michelangelo couldn’t foresee. Alessandro’s remains threatened to destroy the memorial the famed artist built for the Duke’s family.
That was until flesh-eating bacteria came to the tomb’s rescue.
A marble tomb from Michelangelo, with a seat sculpture above and two statues lying down on a tomb below.
CBS News reports (in a story we first heard about at DesignTAXI) on the ingenious, all-natural way Italian authorities saved one of Michelangelo’s works from decay. Duke Alessandro’s family interred him in the Medici Chapel. He’s buried in the tomb of his father, a piece sculpted by the Renaissance master. In 2019 historians and restorers recognized the tomb was much dirtier than normal. Later that year Italy’s National Research Council identified the culprit responsible: a leaky Duke Alessandro.
It turns out his body had not been properly embalmed. So, a mixture of bodily fluids and compounds of glue and plaster applied to the tomb over the last 500 years was responsible for the stains accumulating on the two statues below Alessandro’s body. Those of Michelangelo’s sculptures of Dusk and Dawn.
The curators of the chapel believed harsh chemicals and abrasives would damage the marble. Instead, they turned to biologist Anna Rosa Sprocati of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies. Forget cleaning the damage. They’d solve the problem at the source. Sprocati and her team searched through more than 1,000 bacteria to use against the issue. That involved plenty of trial and error. Some of the bacteria they tested ate both the stains and marble.
Finally, they settled on Serratia ficaria SH7, a flesh-eating bacteria. Using a microbial gel to apply it, the bacteria did the job both efficiently and thoroughly. The flesh-eating organism finished its, ahem, meal in a single night.
Michelangelo believed his sculptures already existed inside a slab of marble. He merely had to free them. In a strange way, his chisel worked the same way as this flesh-eating bacteria. Each eliminated all the parts the sculpture didn’t need.
The post Flesh-Eating Bacteria Save Michelangelo Sculptures From Destruction appeared first on Nerdist
Alexandra Larkin
Tue, June 22, 2021
Nearly 500 years ago, Duke Alessandro de Medici was lured with the promise of spending the night with a beautiful widow, but instead met the end of a knife from an assassin — hired by his cousin — who stabbed him to death. The ruler of Florence's body was placed in his father's tomb.
Now? He's leaking.
Italian art historians and restorers noticed in 2019 that the marble statues in the Medici Chapel, which was commissioned entirely by Michelangelo, were starting to appear dirtier than usual. Staining had been recorded as early as 1595, but the tools to remove it didn't exist then.
In November 2019, Italy's National Research Council figured out what was behind the grime: Bodily fluids leaking from the improperly embalmed corpse of Alessandro de Medici, along with other compounds accumulated over time from glue and plaster. Alessandro's fluids had seeped into the statues of Dusk and Dawn that adorned his father's tomb.
Anna Rosa Sprocati, a biologist at the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, hand-picked from her catalog of more than 1,000 bacteria to test against the stains. They had successes and failures, with some of the bacteria eating not just the human remains, but the delicate Carrera marble, too. But the chapel's museum believed that bacteria would be more effective than harsh chemicals or abrasives.
One of the statues stained by Alessandro de Medici's improperly embalmed corpse, before its bacterial bath. / Credit: Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images
Sprocati's all-female team picked the eight most promising bacteria and tested them on a gridded section behind the altar of the church. The ones that worked were then put on the tomb of Giuliano di Lorenzo, specifically the statues of Night and Day. The bacteria successfully cleaned Night's hair and eyes of accumulated residue.
After a brief pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team released their best flesh-eating bacteria, Serratia ficaria SH7, by way of a microbial gel onto the tomb that was becoming stained. There were even button-shaped deformations.
"SH7 ate Alessandro," Monica Bietti, the Medici Chapels Museum's former director, told The New York Times.
"It ate the whole night," said restorer Marina Vincenti, according to the news outlet.
Visitors can book tickets to the Medici Chapel online.
Michael Walsh
Thu, June 24, 2021
Michelangelo
Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet (1475-1564)
“The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” That’s how the great Michelangelo described his process of turning stone slabs into stunning works of art. That approach clearly worked for him. His impossibly long list of masterpieces includes “The David” and “La Pietà .”
But some of his sculptures involved more than just freeing the work within. They involved putting someone’s remains inside of them. Like his tomb where Florence’s Duke Alessandro de Medici rests. Which caused a problem even a brilliant mind like Michelangelo couldn’t foresee. Alessandro’s remains threatened to destroy the memorial the famed artist built for the Duke’s family.
That was until flesh-eating bacteria came to the tomb’s rescue.
A marble tomb from Michelangelo, with a seat sculpture above and two statues lying down on a tomb below.
CBS News reports (in a story we first heard about at DesignTAXI) on the ingenious, all-natural way Italian authorities saved one of Michelangelo’s works from decay. Duke Alessandro’s family interred him in the Medici Chapel. He’s buried in the tomb of his father, a piece sculpted by the Renaissance master. In 2019 historians and restorers recognized the tomb was much dirtier than normal. Later that year Italy’s National Research Council identified the culprit responsible: a leaky Duke Alessandro.
It turns out his body had not been properly embalmed. So, a mixture of bodily fluids and compounds of glue and plaster applied to the tomb over the last 500 years was responsible for the stains accumulating on the two statues below Alessandro’s body. Those of Michelangelo’s sculptures of Dusk and Dawn.
The curators of the chapel believed harsh chemicals and abrasives would damage the marble. Instead, they turned to biologist Anna Rosa Sprocati of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies. Forget cleaning the damage. They’d solve the problem at the source. Sprocati and her team searched through more than 1,000 bacteria to use against the issue. That involved plenty of trial and error. Some of the bacteria they tested ate both the stains and marble.
Finally, they settled on Serratia ficaria SH7, a flesh-eating bacteria. Using a microbial gel to apply it, the bacteria did the job both efficiently and thoroughly. The flesh-eating organism finished its, ahem, meal in a single night.
Michelangelo believed his sculptures already existed inside a slab of marble. He merely had to free them. In a strange way, his chisel worked the same way as this flesh-eating bacteria. Each eliminated all the parts the sculpture didn’t need.
The post Flesh-Eating Bacteria Save Michelangelo Sculptures From Destruction appeared first on Nerdist
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