Abstract
Cesare Brandi (1906-1988) wrote The Theory of Restoration in 1966 as an integral part of his general conception of art and there he identified the purpose and duty of restoration, which had not been fully developed in previous centuries. This research focuses on his specific theory of the reintegration of the lacunae. Brandi did not agree to a traditional method, restoring the original appearance of art by using the almost identical technique to an artist, which could end up producing a counterfeit. As an alternative, Brandi proposed the reintegration with neutral colour, in which the lacunae would be filled up with moderate colours somewhere between grey and ocher. Although quite a few restorers adopted his unique method, it gradually came to be considered inappropriate for its peculiar appearance so that it almost disappeared by the end of seventies. Slighted as a short-lived proposal, neither a true significance of an intervention with neutral colour nor Brandi's intention on this has been deeply argued. This paper treats the reintegration with neutral colour as an embodiment of Brandi's idea on respecting "time in relation to the art", and it will verify how Brandi's theory and that of his contemporaries correspond to the method of neutral colour.
