Louvre Unveils Conserved Delacroix
April 30 2024
Picture: Delacroix, La Liberté guidant le peuple APRES restauration© GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / Adrien Didierjean / Mathieu Rabeau-jpg
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Louvre in Paris have revealed Eugène Delacroix's freshly conserved and iconic La Liberté guidant le peuple. The conservation project, the first since 1949, was undertaken by Bénédicte Trémolières and Laurence Mugniot and consisted mostly of removed old yellowed varnish. Apparently, this has led to many new perspectives on the work, including the fact that Liberty's tunic is mostly grey and not uniformly yellow.
The work will be on display again to the public in the Mollien Room from 2nd May 2024.
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As mentioned previously, it is very impressive that the Louvre, a museum which has famously resisted restoring many of its works of art, is apparently looking afresh at this tradition. The benefits, if undertaken in a restrained and considered way, can be outstanding. However, the cleaning of a picture can also make you look at it in an entirely different way - I cannot see Fragonard's The Swing in the same light after its cleaning back in 2021, for example. I know that there was a conference on the subject of conservation in the museum a few weeks ago but I missed it, alas.
