At the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th, in Rome, there developed a new theory of restoration of the works of antique sculpture, as a result of the exceptional interest in archaeology. Though the numerous and erudite restorers led by Cavaceppi reconfirmed the need to complete the works ruined by time by resupplying them with their missing parts, they set up a rigorous methodology for it. The idea was to reconstruct, on the basis of philological analysis, the pieces of sculpture just the way they had been made by their creators, thus respecting even any possible mistakes of form or drop in quality. The philological research which this involved provoked, in turn, the first crisis in the principle of completion of the sculpture. As of 1816, Canova and a committee for the acquisition of works for museums decided to select for the museums of Rome only those works of sculpture that hadn't been restored. From this date on, in fact, all restoration work was to undergo strict control by specialists appointed by the state.