Original scientific paper
The Issue of the Presentation of Fragmentarily Kept Medieval Wall Painting
Ivan Srša
; Hrvatski restauratorski zavod, Zagreb
Abstract
The theory and practice of the presentation of fragmentarily kept medieval wall paintings in Croatia is explored on a few characteristic
examples of conservation and restoration, executed in the period between 1950 and 2010. The text deals with the concepts of invisible
internal and visible external presentation of wall paintings. The internal part of each presentation consists of the substantial
structure of a painting, its original textures and those that were added during conservation and restoration (between the wall and
the plaster, in plastered layers, within and on the surface of the painted layer). The visible external part of the presentation consist of
the artistic structure of wall paintings and the aesthetic impression adapted to it and realized through the integration of the plastered
and painted layers. Both presentations are the result of the chosen critical approach and procedures adapted to it. The quality of the
executed restoration and conservation operation is the basic criterion for the estimation of the presentation, and since each presentation
is different, the estimation of its quality calls for an approach adapted to it.
The concept of critical interpretation is defi ned as an act of authored interpretation of the project leader and his team of experts who
decide upon the approach to the presentation after executing multidisciplinary research. The approach determines the aims and the
methods for the achievement of the chosen presentation of wall paintings, as explored through the reinterpretation of concepts: conservation,
restoration and an approach that combines conservation and restoration. The conservation approach implies the necessary
consolidation of the damaged substantial structure of wall paintings with a simultaneous conservation of the aesthetic condition that
was found in or was discovered after removing multilayered chalky coating and/or plastered layers. The restoration approach, on the
other hand, except for the necessary consolidation, implies operations that contribute to the aesthetic consolidation of wall paintings.
It ensures an intervention of greater, but still allowable, extent on the damaged parts of the originally painted layer, which allow for
a reintegration of the painted layer by including both a retouch and a partial reconstruction of lost parts. The combined approach is
a link between conservation and restoration. Through it the necessary consolidation of the substantial structure (internal presentation)
as well as the optimal aesthetic impression (external presentation) is achieved in the required interventions and minimal operations
in both presentations.
Keywords
wall paintings; internal and external presentation; critical interpretation; presentation estimation
Hrčak ID:
199540
URI
Publication date:
15.12.2010.
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