Il fregio dell’arte della guerra nel palazzo ducale di Urbino: aspetti conservativi, materiali e tecniche esecutive

The Art of War frieze (Fig. 1) is formed by 72 stone bas-reliefs that in the late 15th century were positioned on the plinth running along the sides of the facade of the Urbino Renaissance Ducal Palace (Marche Region, Italy). The frieze, probably elaborated by Federico da Montefeltro around 1474, illustrates a rich iconographic repertoire depicting numerous engineering machines and symbols related to the military and political spheres (Petrini et al. 2022). There is no certain information regarding the design of the frieze, its chronology, the order of the bas-reliefs arrangement and the debate concerning their execution appears even more complex (Petrini et al. 2022). Regarding the stone material, Baldi (1590) mentioned the use of local Travertine of Piobbico (Amadori 1985). The bas-reliefs originally decorated the facade from its creation until 1756 when they were positioned in the Soprallogge for conservation purposes (Bernini Pezzini 1985). This paper aims to clarify the debate concerning the original arrangement of the bas-reliefs, the constituting material and the executive technique Some aspects concerning conservation issues were also considered.