"Il restauro non è una scienza arcana che pei gonzi”. Giuseppe Mongeri e i prodromi del rapporto tra scienza, storia dell’arte e restauro.

This paper, which is the output from a more extensive and unpublished study dedicated to Giuseppe Mongeri, draws from his several writings some cases studies - restorations of paintings and frescoes - to grasp the collabora-tion between the art historian and the restorer. The chalking and blistering in Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, the 'ablutions' of the frescoes in the left chapel of Monza Cathedral or the success of the techniques of frescoes’ detach-ment – which assured paintings onto canvas and timber - were much discussed subjects at his time (the second half of 19th century). They faced to the paintings' restorer as new technical questions and technologies to be counteracted with a scientific approach and different manners. The materials of which works were made, but also the skills of the operators, the availability of the clients and the importance for the history of art, influenced the final approach. These issue, among the others, informed his remarks to the Conservazione dei monumenti e degli oggetti d’arte e d’archeologia bill (1877/78).