Restoration of two canvases belonging to the IES Puerta Bonita
Paintings "Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins" and "Let the children come to me"
Various works of art from the Old O'Donnell Maternity Hospital are stored at the IES Puerta Bonita. At the time and given their poor state of conservation, they were referred to the Higher School of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Assets.
The paintings
Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins
Size: 165x115 cm.
The work represents Santa Úrsula carrying an arrow and a banner, accompanied by a group of women with martyrdom palms. She appears represented as a princess, since she was the daughter of Breton kings, she holds a banner with the cross of Saint George (red cross on white cloth), in recognition of her qualities. The arrow that the saint carries in her other hand, as well as the palms that her companions carry, are symbols of the torture that she suffered. The laurel wreath, which an angel places on the saint's head, represents victory over the world and the flesh through martyrdom.
Tradition narrates that Saint Ursula, daughter of the kings of Brittany Mauro and Daria, was promised to a pagan prince of England. As a condition to marry, the saint imposed that they provide her with 10 maidens as friends, 1000 servants for each one and a fleet to travel and see the world for three years, in order to allow time for the prince to convert or undo the marriage. commitment. Finally, the prince is baptized and marches in procession with his fiancée.
Despite its anonymity, we find a work of high quality that uses a clear pictorial language brought from Italy. We must therefore situate the painting in the context of the arrival at the Madrid court of Italian painters, so much to the taste of Carlos I and Felipe II.
From a stylistic point of view, the work could be related to the Bolognese school of painting, specifically with the painters trained around the figure of Guido Reni, who spread their models throughout Europe. The Bolognese school drew its references from classical styles of both Greco-Roman antiquity and the early Renaissance. Five hundredespecially Raphael.
Let the children come to me
Dimensions: 265 x 190 cm.
We find ourselves before a curious example of a religious didactic painting, which although it represents Christ surrounded by children, does not seem to correspond to the iconographic theme of the subject. Let the children come to me. It is an allegorical representation of Christian charity, with a clear intention to indoctrinate in the faith.
Compositionally and thematically the work is divided into two halves. In the lower one, which represents the earthly plane, we find Jesus presiding over the scene with multiple characters on a smaller scale: girls on his left and boys on his right, as well as figures of angels. Jesus is represented at the moment of the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fish, a theme that alludes to the practice of mercy of feeding the hungry, recorded in the Gospel of Saint Matthew (14, 13-21). Actually this work, although it is inspired by this evangelical moment, does not represent it as it is, since on that occasion Christ was with the apostles. Here, however, the theme is used symbolically and a heavenly court of angels is in charge of cooking and distributing food to the poor and hungry children, giving rise to a composition full of small scenes in which the crowd is described. waiting to be fed and the angels who are in charge of serving them.
Each of the scenes is accompanied by a red letter that serves to identify the scene that is described in the lower part of the table with a legend.
We do not know for the moment the author of the work, although due to the style of the painting it can be placed at the end of the XNUMXth or beginning of the XNUMXth century. An element that serves to date the painting in a certain way is the representation of the Sanctuary of the Santísima Virgen de la Cabeza, whose belfry was not built until the beginning of the XNUMXth century. The work shows a style similar to the neoclassicist models although perpetuating baroque models.
Restoration of the works
The canvas Saint Ursula and the eleven thousand virgins, at the time it was admitted to the Escuela Superior de Conservación y Restauración de Bienes Culturales (ESCRBC), it was in a very poor state of conservation, an inadequate relining made with mattress fabric and a coarse and poor quality repainting that covered the paint. original in its entirety. At the ESCRBC a series of works had been carried out aimed at removing elements that affected the physical integrity and stability of the work: fundamentally the scrim had been removed and much of the overpainting had been removed.
Regarding the intervention on the support, subjected to a series of physical-chemical and mechanical processes that had resulted in the loss of mechanical resistance and structural stability, an effort has been made to preserve the physical integrity of a greatly altered work. In the reintegration works, the recovery of the complete image of the painting has prevailed to make it more understandable and improve its reception by the viewer.
After obtaining historical-artistic documentation, the following works were carried out:
- fabric stripping of the table support and metal tacks with mechanical means.
- Cleaning the back of the fabric by vacuuming, brushing and using latex sponges.
- Wetting and pressure controlled, to eliminate deformations.
- Consolidation of the support by adhesion of the fabric to an inert support.
- Elimination of oxidized varnish remains and repainting.
- pictorial film leveling with synthetic primer type Modostuc.
- Chromatic reintegration Extremely complex due to the large number of losses in the pictorial film, since these affected important iconographic motifs such as the face of Saint Ursula and other parts of the canvas. As a general criterion, the recovery of the full image of the painting has been chosen to make it more understandable and improve its perception by the viewer.
- Canvas varnishing applied by spraying so as not to generate strange shine. The varnish used is a synthetic ketonic resin in solution, stable and reversible.
The canvas Let the children come to me, presented a state of conservation similar to the previous one and no treatment had been carried out on it.
The canvas hid its true state of conservation under an appearance of continuity provided by the presence of repaints, which, in addition to hiding the losses of the original painting, largely covered it. Regarding the intervention on the support, an effort has been made to preserve the physical integrity of a heavily altered work by eliminating the previous scrim, while in the reintegration work the recovery of the full image of the painting has prevailed to make it more understandable and improve its reception. by the viewer.
The works carried out have been the following:
- Historical-artistic documentation and temporary protection of pictorial film
- Elimination of the old scrim. Flattening and reinforcing the seam of the fabric with the application of moisture and pressure.
- Adhesion of the fabric to a rigid support inert to guarantee its tension and stability.
- Elimination of oxidized varnish remains and repainting.
- Pictorial film leveling in loss zones.
- Chromatic reintegration of the canvas following an application methodology adjusted to the aesthetic criteria of contributing to the piece the characteristics that are typical of the oil technique, its good state of conservation and its style.
- Varnishing applying a layer of thin surface varnish.
- frame treatment: cleaning with neutral soap and varnishing
The treatments carried out on the canvases have allowed their recovery and a correct reading of two works of great heritage value.
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