Category: Conservation
Gainsborough's Cornard Wood Conserved
July 13 2021
Picture: The National Gallery, London
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery in London have revealed on Twitter that Thomas Gainsborough's Cornard Wood has been conserved and redisplayed in the galleries. The picture was last cleaned during World War Two, and at a glance it seems the most recent campaign seems to have had a rather nice harmonising effect on the colours and shadowing.
Restoration of Poldi Pezzoli Museum's Mantegna
July 12 2021
Picture: Finestre sull'Arte
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Italian website Finestre sull'Arte have published an interesting article on the restoration of Andrea Mantegna's Madonna and Child in the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan. In particular, the article explains the work undertaken by the 'restorer' Giuseppe Molteni at the end of the nineteenth century who undertook several highly suspicious 'improvements' to the picture. Fortunately, in 2019 the museum decided to begin the task of restoring the work and removing these later additions. The work undertaken by Opificio delle Pietre Dure in Florence has revealed the true colours of the painting as well as undertaken scientific analysis of Mantegna's pigments and processes. Furthermore, the restoration has allowed for a more precise dating to the artist's early period in Mantua, from around 1462 - 1470.
A new frame for Velázquez's The Spinners
July 12 2021
Video: Prado
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Prado in Madrid have published the following video giving an insider's view into a new frame made for Diego Velázquez's The Spinners. This new frame, which is incorporated into a wall of the gallery, hides the later eighteenth century additions without physically cutting them off from Velázquez's original canvas. A very interesting project indeed!
Restoring a Damaged Piazzetta
July 2 2021
Video: The National Gallery, London
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I missed this new video published by the National Gallery in London last week. Larry Keith and Kendall Francis explain how they approached the retouching of Piazzetta's Sacrifice of Isaac.
National Gallery cleans Van Dyck's Abbé Scaglia
July 1 2021
Picture: The National Gallery, London
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Gallery in London has shared news on Twitter that Van Dyck's portrait of Abbé Scaglia has been cleaned. The gallery's board of trustees approved the treatment of this painting back in January 2020. It is well worth heading over to the gallery's online catalogue entry where you'll be able to zoom in on the beautiful details of this fine picture.
Prado Conserves Martin Archer Shee Portrait
June 28 2021
Picture: Prado, Madrid
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News on Twitter (via. @jorgegrien) that the Prado Museum in Madrid have recently conserved a few of their British paintings. This includes Martin Archer Shee's portrait of Mr Storer. I really do recommend clicking through the link, where you'll be able to zoom in on the lovely details found within this painting.
Rijksmuseum uses AI to Recreate Missing Parts of The Night Watch
June 24 2021
Picture: Artnews.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam have produced a very interesting video showing the outcome of a research project to reconstruct the missing parts of Rembrandt's The Night Watch. Famously, the painting was cut down fifty years after the artist's death to fit in between a doorway. Instead of waiting for the missing pieces to reappear, the museum decided to go about reconstructing the cut sections using a seventeenth century copy of the original and a team of computer geeks. A sophisticated AI program was used to 'imitate' Rembrandt's stylistic straights and new boards were printed to afford us a glimpse of the artist's original intentions.
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This is undoubtedly an impressive feat of technology. Yet, I personally can't help but find the printed foamex boards a little ugly and distracting to the eye. Their glassy smoothness affords the additions a rather lifeless quality. This may well have been part of the plan, as it has become rather fashionable in the world of conservation (since the time of William Morris I suppose) for modern interventions to appear modern rather than harmonise seamlessly. Despite what the AI learnt in 'art school', Rembrandt's now encircled original work manages to shine through brilliantly.
I grant you that people visit museums and galleries for all sorts of reasons. Personally speaking, I adore such places because one is immersed in the world of the handmade, freed from screens, boards and all the other mundane trappings of our modern age.
Baroque Frescos Conserved in Bologna
June 21 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that a set of seventeenth century frescos in the Basilica of San Martino Maggiore, Bologna, have been restored. The scene entitled La lezione di San Pier Tommaso o Tomà was completed by the figure painter Lucio Massari and the architectural painter Girolamo Curti in 1629. The project has been the pipeline since 2017 when it was decided that the frescos should be conserved and displayed to the public.
Here's a detail of the frescos before restoration. Curiously, it seems to show that three holes were punched through the wall at some point, perhaps for the use of a projector:
15th century St John the Baptist Conserved in Malta
June 21 2021
Picture: Times of Malta
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Times of Malta have published an extensive article regarding the recent conservation and restoration of a panel painting of John the Baptist attributed to the Sicilian painter Tommaso de Vigilia (active Palermo 1444-1497). The work, kept in the Mdina Cathedral Museum, is a fragment of a much larger piece that was dismembered after a disastrous earthquake which hit the island in 1693. This delicate restoration project was undertaken by conservator Amy Sciberras.
Two Early Banners by Raphael are Conserved in Perugia
June 18 2021
Picture: ansa.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Two processional banners, which are some of the earliest works attributed to Raphael, are being conserved in the Città di Castello, Perugia. The conservation work is being undertaken in preparation for an exhibition entitled The Young Raphael and his Gaze (a rough translation) which will open on 18th September 2021.
Städel Museum Conserve a Gandolfi Oil Sketch
June 18 2021
Picture: Städel Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Städel Museum in Frankfurt have published an interesting blog on the recent conservation of an oil sketch of Saints Petronius of Bologna and Bernardin of Siena by Gaetano Gandolfi. This sketch, which dates to c.1774, was acquired by the museum in 1920 and had been in storage for several decades. The removal of old varnish has revealed the fresh colouring and has been further enhanced by a new period Italian frame. Gandolfi's sketch will now hang alongside other eighteenth-century Italian masterpieces from the collection, including works by Giovanni Battista and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, Canaletto, Pompeo Batoni and Alessandro Magnasco.
Refurbished Courtauld Galleries Reopen in November
June 14 2021
Picture: Courtauld Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News has arrived that the recently refurbished galleries of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London will be reopening to the public in November. This extensive four-year restoration project was made possible due to generous donations from the luxury conglomerate LVMH, the Ukrainian-born billionaire Leonard Blavatnik and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The newly refurbished rooms, including the 'Great Room' which housed the RA's exhibitions until 1837, sound very exciting indeed. There's even mention of a new room dedicated to paintings by Rubens, alongside other Courtauld favourites.
Nelly O'Brien Conserved
June 14 2021
Picture: tefaf.com
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Wallace Collection's Miss Nelly O'Brien by Sir Joshua Reynolds has been conserved and redisplayed to the public. The project was funded by the TEFAF (The European Fine Art Foundation) Museum Restoration Fund, which the museum received in 2014 (?)
According to the TEFAF website:
The portrait is notable for its interplay of light and shadow, particularly in the upper part of the sitter’s body, where the wide brim of the bonnet casts a shadow over her face and bosom. However, the painting had been untouched for over 150 years and had several thick layers of discoloured varnish obscuring its beauty. The conservation of this painting, which was carried out in collaboration with the National Gallery, served two main purposes: to reveal the original luminous beauty of the work and to bring to light new information about Reynolds’s techniques and processes.
Another Painting Appears Underneath Portrait of Mexican Empress
May 28 2021
Picture: The Philadelphia Inquirer
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article earlier this month relating to a discovery made by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in preparation for their revamped early American Art galleries. Indeed, x-rays revealed that hiding underneath two early nineteenth century portraits of the Emperor and Empress of Mexico were two earlier images of King and Queen of Spain, Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma. It seems that the artist Josephus Arias Huerta simply painted over to earlier pictures, a practise undertaken often by painters in the past.
The article captures the moment conservator Sarah Mastrangelo noticed an un-associated eye staring out of the Empress's dress:
Later, Sarah Mastrangelo would remember the eye, how it suddenly appeared, staring up at her from within the belly of the empress of Mexico.
She gasped.
“What is that?” she said out loud.
A photographer standing next to her peered over to take a look.
“It’s an eye,” he said.
She looked again. What’s it doing there? Why is there an eye hidden beneath the empress’ heavy robes? “Have I been staring at this too long?” she wondered.
Scans of Frick Collection's Vermeer Reveals Alternative Background
May 28 2021
Picture: Frick Collection / MET
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I hope readers will forgive me for missing this very interesting blog posted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection last year. It revolves around revelations made possible through detailed scans of the Frick Collection's Mistress and Maid by Johannes Vermeer. Images made through macro X-ray fluorescence have revealed that Vermeer had originally intended the scene to contain a more complicated background filled with figures and later a tapestry. For reasons unknown, Vermeer seems to have decided to paint them out completely.
Conservation of Hardwick Tapestries nearly Complete
May 27 2021
Picture: The Art Newspaper
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The conservation of Hardwick Hall's tapestries, a project which was started twenty years ago, is nearly complete. Twelve out of a set of thirteen wall hangings, which decorate the building's famous Long Gallery, have been treated. The set have hung in the space since 1592 and have required painstaking work to replace broken threads and include added strengthening to these delicate works of art. Work on the last panel is being completed with the help of a private donation worth £287,000.
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As beautiful as these tapestries are, the irony is that the hall's outstanding portrait collection is hung in front of them! There is no way of getting around that, I suppose.
Restoration reveals Silver Eyes of Cellini Bust
May 25 2021
Picture: ansa.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The National Museum of Bargello in Florence, Italy, have shared news that a recent campaign of restoration has revealed the original silver eyes of Benvenuto Cellini's bust of Cosimo I de' Medici. The silver foil, which was an original part of Cellini's work dating to 1545-48, had become obscured by centuries of grime and a dark coating which may have been applied to the sculpture in the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. The delicate process of removing the later layers was undertaken by conservator Ludovica Nicolai.
For those wanting to see the results of this interesting project, the newly restored bust will be heading to the MET's upcoming exhibition on Medici Portraits.
Traces of Gold uncovered on Donatello Sculpture
May 20 2021
Picture: ansa.it
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Traces of gilding have been uncovered on a recently conserved marble statue of San Marco by Donatello kept by the Museum of Orsanmichele in Florence. The discovery was made during a recent conservation and scanning project, indicating that the hair, beard and robes of the figure were once a golden colour. The statue was completed in 1411 when Donatello was a mere twenty-five years old.
Restored Mattia Preti Fresco unveiled in Naples
May 20 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A recently restored fresco by Mattia Preti (1613-1699) on the Porta San Gennaro in Naples has been revealed to the public. This latest campaign of restoration was begun in September 2019, by the company AReN, and continued throughout the pandemic. It was during the 1990s when the fragile wall painting was last conserved, a ritual that must be undertaken every few decades as this area of the city suffers greatly from pollution from fumes.
22-Meter Painting of Venice goes on Display
May 19 2021
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
A 22-meter painting of Venice has gone on display in the Querini Stampalia Foundation in Venice. The work, completed by Giovanni Biasin (1835-1912) in 1887, is believed to be one of the largest views of the view ever painted. The re-display has been made possible by a lengthy conservation project on this fragile work on paper. It will on display in the city until October 2021.
