Broken Arm

I spent three hours in an astounding show at Yale Art Gallery this afternoon! It is about the decisions curators have to make regarding how much restoration to do to a painting or sculpture or other piece of art. This is such a great image - a marble statue with what appears to be a broken arm. And her nose is missing as well as some fingers from her left hand. Turns out this statue was displayed outdoors for a number of years and was damaged by weathering. But it also had been repaired over the years as well. Curators discovered that her whole right arm was a replacement, and in fact, was badly done, so they are planning to remove it from the statue, because it is not characteristic of the pose of the time. So it is in the sling until it can be removed. Such a striking image when I first saw it after entering the gallery. A brilliant idea for the first thing you see in the gallery.