Home >> Art in Need >> What can I help restore now? >> Portrait of Emilio Jesi by Antonietta Raphael Mafai >> Feeling fine in the atelier
A restoration close up
Feeling fine in the atelier
| SHARE |  |  |
We believe that Raphael Mafai would have felt at home in a restoration studio. This delightful excerpt from her diary, dated 1941, is a rare glimpse of how the artist worked in her studio. Art lovers are sure to enjoy the off-handed mention of Jesi himself. "Today I decided to tidy things up a bit; I gathered all the sculpted heads scattered in every corner of the studio which gave the impression of being in a cemetery. I've given a few some touchups and have grouped them together so they look like a convention of lovely young maidens. They do nothing but speak of their Odyssey from one side of the room to another, amidst piles of iron and bits of colored paper […] Jesi and Maria came to visit me, but they forgot the sugar they had promised to bring! Instead, they were scandalized by such untidiness. It does not bother me. I work well this way. It's nice to work among this bric-a-brac… it sometimes has something to say!"