Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.17018/portal.2019.11
Transfer of Paintings by Kristofor Krile Antunović to a New Support
Orest Šuman
; Croatian Conservation Institute, Department for Easel Painting, Zagreb, Croatia
Elio Karamatić
Abstract
Any intervention that changes or removes part of the original is inevitably debatable, and the transfer method certainly holds a special place among such interventions. This text, with a brief introduction about the technique and history of its origin, deals with the circumstances that have led us, in recent restoration practices, to carry out just such a process on a valuable artwork from the Croatian Conservation Institute. Transferring a painting from the original support to a new one is one of the most complex and dangerous restoration procedures for structural changes of paintings. It is a radical and irreversible method that significantly affects the integrity of the material, as well as the aesthetic characteristics of the work of art. In the past, many paintings were transferred from wood to canvas, which was considered more stable and practical, thus changing the original technological concept and characteristic curvature of the surface of paintings on wood. Depending on how much of the original wood is removed, the process can be characterized as a complete or partial transfer. In the latter case, a thin layer of wood (a few millimetres) is retained, while in the case of a complete transfer, the entire support is removed to the chalk carrier. In addition to rapidly accelerating technological development, the past century has also brought a more restrained approach to restoration, reflected in the introduction of minimalist chalk into the ethics of the restoration profession. Today, a process whose legitimacy was not questioned for nearly two centuries is relatively controversial and is generally considered justified only in exceptional cases. The complete transfer was performed in 2016 on paintings of St. John the Baptist, St. Blaise with St. Catherine, and St. Nicholas and St. Anthony the Abbot with St. Dominic, by Kristofor Krile Antunović, from the high altar of the Assumption of the Virgin in the church of St. Mary in Pakljena, on Šipan. This paper presents a detailed description of all the work that was carried out, with emphasis on the measures and decisions that were made on the basis of the assessment of the condition of the artwork and the effectiveness of the previously-performed procedure. In addition, the reasons for choosing some contemporary materials and techniques are discussed, and the final part of the text describes how the experience reflects on the evaluation of the method used.
Keywords
painting transfer; transposition; infestation of wood paintings; easel painting; restoration; Šipan, Kristofor Krile Antunović; Titian; 16th-century Dubrovnik painting
Hrčak ID:
231914
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2019.
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