We might call them “happy accidents”

As the five year study and treatment of “St Michael”, the terracotta relief by Andrea della Robbia that fell off the wall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2008 comes to an end, Randy Kennedy writes about the new insights into the working methods of the della Robbia factory that were gained during the period of study and treatment in the April 6, 2016 issue of The New York Times (“Master Class from a Broken Angel”). In the article, he also mentions the 2002 accident at the MET in which the sculpture of “Adam” by Tullio Lombardo fell off of its pedestal, an accident which led to a review and re-engineering of the MET’s mounting practices and many new insights into the creation of that sculpture. With so much discussion of the knowledge that was gained because of these disasters, if we were to be flippant, we might call them “happy accidents”.