Restoration of sculptures from the Royal Conservatory of Music

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Busts of Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, Ruperto Chapí, Joaquín Turina and Emilio Arrieta

The Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid is the oldest public institution of music education in Spain, which provides higher education in music, equivalent to university education. Its history, lasting a century and a half, is representative of the vicissitudes of music in Spanish society. This center, under the jurisdiction of the Community of Madrid, has a museum that houses Fine Arts collections along with musical instruments, all of them cultural assets that require conservation and restoration interventions, as has been the case of the four sculptures restored by the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Community of Madrid.

Restored works

Bust of Francisco Asenjo Barbieri, 1943

_65x50cm

Terracotta colored pigmented plaster, evoking ancient terracotta excavations with carbonation.

_{Images of the bust before and after restoration:}

Francisco Asenjo Barbieri

Francisco Asenjo Barbieri (1823-1894) was a prominent composer and pioneer musicologist, creator of modern zarzuela. Trained at the Royal Conservatory, he was, with Emilio Arrieta, one of the founders of the Teatro de la Zarzuela in 1856. He was a Member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Spanish Academy. The bust of Barbieri decorated the assembly hall of the Royal Conservatory along with the busts of Chueca, Guerrero and Victoria. He appears mentioned in the History of the Conservatory by Federico Sopeña next to the bust of Chapí.

Work of the sculptor and image maker Jacinto Higueras Fuentes (Santisteban del Puerto 1877 - Madrid 1954). In 1894 he settled in Madrid, training for three years in the workshop of the sculptor Agustín Querol and later, for nine years, with Mariano Benlliure. In 1942 he was named an academic at the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

The restored piece bears great similarity to the bust of Barbieri that is part of the Monument to the sparklers (1910), conceived by Lorenzo Coullant Valera in 1910 and located in the Plaza de Chamberí in Madrid since 1932, from which, without a doubt, it must have been inspired.

Bust of Ruperto Chapí, 1943

_65x50cm

Terracotta colored pigmented plaster, evoking ancient terracotta excavations with carbonation.

_{Images of the bust before and after restoration:}

Ruperto Chapí

Ruperto Chapí (1851-1909) was a great composer of zarzuelas, quartets and symphonic poems, trained at the Royal Conservatory with Bretón and Arrieta. He is a founding member of the Society of Authors and teacher of Manuel de Falla.

Work of the sculptor and image maker Jacinto Higueras Fuentes, The bust is made without the composer's characteristic glasses. He decorated the assembly hall of the Royal Conservatory along with the busts of Chueca, Guerrero and Victoria. This portrait may be inspired by the great monument designed in 1917 by Julio Antonio Rodríguez Hernández (1889-1919) and inaugurated in the Retiro Gardens in 1921 thanks to a popular subscription.

Bust of Joaquín Turina, 1951

_54x36cm

Terracotta colored pigmented plaster.

_{Images of the bust before and after restoration:}

Joaquín Turina

Joaquín Turina (1882-1942) was a renowned composer and music critic. Trained in Seville, Madrid and Paris, he was a professor of composition at the Conservatory. He also held different positions in the administration during the Republic and the Dictatorship.

Work done by Jacinto Higueras Chair (Santisteban del Puerto, 1914- Madrid, 2009), who studied drawing, painting and ceramics at the Official School of Ceramics in Madrid and trained as a sculptor in the workshop of his father, Jacinto Higueras Fuentes. In 1942 he became independent from his father, setting up a workshop in Madrid. Much of his work is commissioned by architects such as A. Espinosa, M. Fisac, F. Urrutia, G. Echegaray and the engineer Eduardo Torroja. His work, very numerous, is distributed throughout the country, Latin America, Brazil and Canada.

Hyacinth Higueras He met the singer Ana María Rodríguez Aragón at Joaquín Turina's house, who would become his wife and was the sister of Lola Rodríguez Aragón, founder of the Madrid Singing School. The relationship between both families was close. The bust was made after the composer's death, in 1951, destined for the Conservatory.

Bust of Emilio Arrieta, 1888

_72x41cm

Made in plaster and finished imitating tenorite patina

_{Images of the bust before and after restoration:}

Emilio Arrieta

Emilio Arrieta (1821-1894) was a famous composer of zarzuelas and singing teacher to Queen Elizabeth II. Trained at the Royal Conservatory of Madrid, he became its composition professor from 1857 and also its director from 1868 to 1894. On the bust, the band that holds the laurel wreath to the lyre bears the legend: “AL EMINENTE / TEACHER". On the leaves of the crown, the largest, are written the titles of Arrieta's most famous zarzuelas. Left: “CALL AND TROOPS” (1861); "THE GRUMETE" (1853); "MARINA" (1855 and 1871 opera); "HELIODORA" (1880); "BETWEEN THE MAYOR AND THE KING" (1875). On the right: “AZÓN VISCONTI” (1858); "THE HOLY WAR" (1879); “S. FRANCISCO DE SENA” (1883); "GIVE ME LORD" (1880); "THE BLUE DOMINO" (1853).

The author of the bust is Rafael Alguero Pinana (Tarragona 1850- Madrid 1937). Installed in Madrid since 1870. He was a disciple of Jerónimo Suñol.

Conservation and restoration of works

Previous state of conservation Restaurants

The busts of Ruperto Chapí and Francisco A. Barbieri They had dull patinas, with grayed colors, preventing the true value of the pieces from being appreciated. This was due to the fumes and greasy dirt adhered together with the oxidation of protections.

At the polychrome level Losses of color were widely seen, leaving the plaster of the support visible, many of them generated by anthropogenic factors (blows, friction, abrasions, etc.). On the two busts you could see a sgraffito graffiti that ran across the foreheads of the Masters, where the following reading could be interpreted: “DO NOT THROW", Everything indicates that at some point they were pardoned and that is why they were able to reach us.

At a material level The plasters did not present cohesion or disintegration problems, but volume losses were observed in the edges, corners, nose, beards, etc.

Like the two previous sculptures, the bust of Turina It offered a very dark image, with very dull color tones due to adhering greasy dirt, smoke and strong oxidation of protections or varnishes. Small material losses were also observed in the edges, corners, chin and nose; chipped due to blows during handling, given the fragility of the plaster.

The bust of Emilio Arrieta It appeared repainted with a thick layer of plastic appearance that dulled the details of its modeling. Also, losses of volume could be seen on the edges of the base, perimeters and more striking on the lapel of the suit, on the lower lip and hair.

Firstly, they carried out solubility tests in the four sculptures in order to determine the solvents and materials to be used in the different processes.
Next, to reinforce the degree of cohesion and consistency in the exposed plaster areas -due to volume loss or at the base of the busts- a material consolidation.
With the data obtained in the solubility tests, the process of cleaning. They became small exam tastings to check the response to the solvents chosen in the patinas and determine the degree of compaction of the same.
In the bust of Arrieta, there were also exam tastings to test the response of the chosen solvent, as well as the methodology to be applied to remove the repaints and check the existence of underlying polychromy.
After cleaning and removal of repainting, the polychromes of the patinas were saturated returning them to the necessary degree of compaction. For this, an acrylic resin was used.
Volume losses and abrasions were replaced with an epoxy resin light and inert that does not add weight or tension to the works, always applied with the criteria of minimum intervention and maximum respect. Subsequently These volumes were stuccoed, being prepared to receive the color.
For chromatic reintegration reversible techniques were used, different from the original ones, following the criteria of minimum intervention and maximum respect. An acrylic base was applied to the replaced gaps and the chromatic values were adjusted with watercolor, applying the latter directly to the small gaps. The technique used was mimetic, since the patinas are very smooth films that have no graphic entity.
For final protection An acrylic resin dissolved in acetone was applied to the busts, later tinted with a matt varnish until the satin appearance of each original patina was achieved.