Preserving the
Great Masterworks
An expose of current art restoration
practices and its threat to the historical
legacy
Within the great art museums of the world today there is increasing
evidence of damage to many of the masterworks that are displayed there. Tragically,
this danger to the historical record of civilisation is being manifested by
the selfsame institutions which have been mandated to protect these works. Throughout
the world there is a very real trend in art restoration to use aggresive and
invasive techniques in the maintainence of the great collections. In some scenarios
conservation department personal are actually changing the appearence of artworks
to better reflect their own philosophies and bias. It is the purpose of this
site to present the evidence plainly for the publics' information.
| Portrait of a Carthusian |
| by Petrus Christus |
Metropolitan Museum of Art/New York
|
Click image to enlarge
The most striking aspect of this cleaning/restoration as it
is euphanistically called- is the obvious deletion of the halo around
the monks head. With further investigation it becomes apparent that on the surface
of the painted panel an arc was scored into the gesso as to recieve the application
of the gold.After burnishing the gold would remain in the grooved area,creating
the halo.In addition ,the proportion of the panel itself in a more vertical
format facilitates the placement of the halo , allowing it added breathing room
so as to enhance the placement of the portrait within the painted "window".
With the halo now removed, most viewers would agree that there now appears to
be excess space around the head. Beyond the issue of the halo, the other most
notable inconsistency in the restoration would have to be the removal of the
delicate tracery in the wings of a trompe loiel fly perched on the sill of the
window near the bottom of the painting.
| Woman at the Virginal |
| by Johannas Vermeer |
National Gallery/London
|
Click image to enlarge
In one of the most egregious examples of so called restoration is this vandalization
of the once stunning painting by Johannes Vermeer.As anyone can see from this
reproduction ,as did thousands when the painting was exhibited at the Vermmer
show in New York last year,the woman has been turned into a green skinned mannekin
by the hapless staff of the restoration department of the British National Gallery.The
subtle soft penumbra of light that washes across the wall and envelopes the
room as been utterly deleted.What is clearly illustrated by this example of
restoration gone amuck is that if what the restorers say is true, cleaning a
painting should result in an evenly distributed lifting off of the yellowed
varnish so that all the gradations of tone throughout the painting should remain
intact.In this case all the relationships of tone have been destroyed, witness
the jumping out of the painted angel, the hard edge of the womans silhouette,the
electric blue panted stripe on the chair cushion in the foreground,even areas
of the wall further from the light source being brighter than the wall surface
just adjacent to the window. Impossible!
| Man in a beret |
| by Rembrandt van Rijn |
Metropolitan Museum of Art/New York
|
Click image to enlarge
This unfortunate yet at one time beautiful portrait by Rembrandt
illustrates a most common occurance in restoration today- the clinical examination
of paint /varnish layers in order to ascertain what was actually painted by
the masters hand.In the case of this painting it was obviously "restored"
by someone that disregarded the unity of the painting, perhaps confusing later
in- painting or glazing by the master with another later hand.As was the case
with Rembrandt and other artists past and present, a painting may remain in
the studio for years before the artists finishes the work.In many cases the
painting is continually evolving over the years as corrections are made and
these are the pentimenti that restorers see when incompatible paint layers were
applied.The solution is not to erase the pentimenti so as to "clean-up"
the work(see Sistine chapel*), yet rather it is to research and consult with
experts in the restoration field and more importantly with trained painters-classically
trained individuals that understand the dynamics of drawing ,proportion,anatomy,
and composition.Unfortunately many restorers are only products of an educational
system that has given short shrift to the traditions of classical painting and
sculpture,only to replace them with modernist "emotive" techniques
-tools that are utterly unable to grasp such painterly skills as modeling form
with paint as revealed by the phenomana of light and color.
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