Workers at the Mathieu Lustrerie atelier in Gargas, France, disassembled the chandelier, believed to have been designed by the Philadelphia firm Cornelius & Baker, and repaired and recoated parts in gold. After considerable research, new arms were fabricated to replace those thought to have once existed.
Only about a third of the chandelier's approximately 10,000 lead-glass crystals were original and in good enough shape to keep, according to John Trosino, the Philadelphia interior designer from KlingStubbins who oversaw the project. Replacement crystals were made from old molds found in a factory in Bohemia.
"The lightness and transparency of the fixture is probably its most arresting quality," said Trosino, who saw the chandelier fully restored and assembled at the Lustrerie atelier before it was taken apart for the voyage home. Reassembly began at the Academy July 28.
Work on the chandelier was part of a larger $1.6 million effort to better light aspects of the Academy's ornate interior details.
- Joanne McLaughlin
and Peter Dobrin
