Restoration of Ancient Sculpture
The popularity of sculpture restoration in art history has a long and complicated history. Up until the nineteenth century, restoring ancient sculptures that had sustained damages was fairly standard across nationalities, regardless of whether the restorations had any basis in the actual piece, sometimes resulting in the sculpture being restored with completely incorrect restorations. For example, Apollo citharist, located in the Naples Archeological Museum, was restored to be a statue of a seated Apollo in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, however it was later discovered that the statue originally represented a female figure, likely the personification of Rome. Restorations, which can be influenced by misiterpretations of the work, can lead to more problems than they attempt to solve, which explains the decline of popularity of restoring ancient sculptures throughout the 1800-1900s.
References:
Grossman, Janet Burnett. History of Restoration of Ancient Stone Sculptures: Papers Delivered at a Symposium, Organized by the Departments of Antiquities and Antiquities Conservation and Held at the the Museum, 25-27 October 2001. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 2003.