Glossary: Restoration of paintings
This is a subject that has troubled the art world for many years. Just what lengths do you go to in restoring a painting, and is it justified? A great deal of bad and ‘over’ restoration has taken place since the flowering of the renaissance. This has included the dramatic alteration of the subject and content of paintings, to satisfy the current political or moral trends. Portraits of disgraced individuals were often over painted or removed entirely and scenes that offended sensibilities blanked out. Censorship is not a new phenomenon.
Now, let’s look briefly at restoration of an icon of religious painting, Leonardo’s ‘The Last Supper’ as it encapsulates the problems and controversies of the whole subject. Many attempts have been made to restore this masterpiece since it was first painted. It started in the early 18th century by Michelangelo Bellotti who cleaned the painting with caustic substances covering it with a layer of oil and varnish. Later in the century, Giusseppe Mazza removed all this earlier work and repainted the original work, again in oil. Their work came in for much criticism as it was felt that they were trying to repaint rather than preserve the original. A new low was reached in 1853 when Stefano Barezzi tried to remove the whole painting from the wall! He failed and ended up gluing back fragments of the work that had dropped off in the process. In the 20th century we were at last to see an end to inept restoration and a more scientific approach. This included large scale photography and paint analysis that showed that the original work was in tempera, not oil! From then on there were more attempts at cleaning and removal of over painting. All this work was nearly rendered useless in 1943 when a bomb destroyed part of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in
Milan where the painting is situated. The modern saviour, however, was Mauro Pelliccioli, who between 1947 and 1949 removed the repainting, anchored the original painting with shellac, and finally cleaned the surface lightening the tonal qualities. This work has saved the painting for future generations.
However the story is not over. In 1979 Pinin Brambilla undertook the latest round of work which was to last for 20 years, 5 times longer than Leonardo took to paint it. The work was unveiled in 1999 and came in for a storm of controversy. It was famously described by James Beck of
Columbia
University as 18-20% Leonardo and 80% the work of the restorer. He asserts that “the painting doesn’t represent a conservation of what remains of Da Vinci’s original, but is a repainting of a work that does not have an echo of the past”. This debate will run and run.
So where are we? Do we allow restores to repaint in their own style by force of necessity of their training and visual awareness? Or do we insist on ‘museum’ restoration where damaged areas are painted in neutral colours with no attempt to replicate the lost areas? I’m not convinced I know the answer to that one, but what I am sure of is, that when I buy a painting, I want it to be in the best possible condition looking as close to the original as possible. I also want to know exactly what, if any, restoration has been carried out, and that it was executed by a professional restorer.
For these reasons we at Room4art include a detailed description of all damage, to every painting that is for sale, including if it has been cleaned and/or restored. This information is vital for trust between seller and buyer especially over the internet. The vast majority of works sold at Room4art have a known provenance, having often been purchased from the artist or their descendants. The condition of every painting is fully detailed and has been photographed in extremely high resolution, so with the aid of our zoom facility you can examine every work in minute detail and there for buy with confidence
