Pregledni rad
Bartolomeo Vivarini‘s painting from Veli Lošinj: a model of protection in inapropriate microclimate condition
Pavao Lerotić
; Hrvatski restauratorski zavod, Odjel za štafelajno slikarstvo, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The altarpiece of the Virgin and Child with Saints by Bartolomeo Vivarini was commissioned in 1475 for the Carthusian Monastery of Sts. Jerome and Bernard in Padua. Not before long, however, the monastery was brought down (1509), and the complete inventory was consigned to a new Carthusian church in Vigodarzere near Padua. The turbulent history of the painting continued after the Venetian authorities closed down the monastery in 1768. The altarpiece is first mentioned as part of Mafeo Pinelli’s private collection in Venice (1785), and again, at the beginning of the 19th century, in the collection of Gasparo Craglietto, a merchant and ship-owner from Lošinj, residing in Venice. Among the paintings which Craglietto left in his will to his native town (1818) the most compelling is the large Vivarini’s Sacra Conversazione. A record from the catalogue of Craglietto’s collection in 1838 emphasizes its value and exceptional state of preservation. Upon its arrival to Veli Lošinj in 1838, after the death of the donor, the Virgin and Child with Saints found its abode for the next century and a half at the Parish Church of St. Anthony the Abbot.
The lack of detailed information as to the condition of the painting and possible restoration treatments from the time it was owned by Mafeo Pinelli and Gasparo Craglietto, in addition to very spare information about a restoration intervention in Vienna (1905), do not allow for any reliable conclusions to be made. It seems, however, that up until the Second World War the painting had been in an excellent state of preservation. Climate stress that occurred when the altarpiece was hidden inside a tomb in the parish church (1943) caused a sudden change in the dimensions of the support and consequently inflicted considerable damage to the paint layer. Blistering, followed by drying and shrinking of the wooden support caused larger areas of paint with the preparation to split, raise and fall of. Multiple restoration treatments that were undertaken in the second half of the 20th century testify to the instability of the painting and the impossibility of ensuring better microclimate conditions in its environment.
Restoration work performed on the painting between 1999 and 2001 at the Croatian Conservation Institute in Zagreb initiated yet another search of a more appropriate environment for the delicate and endangered artwork. As it was impossible to provide a space with controlled microclimate conditions for it to be permanently placed and exhibited in Veli Lošinj, its return to the church required a display cabinet to be installed. Limited finances and a need to adjust the protection chamber to the Late Baroque interior of the church called for a simple construction that would ft the original location for the painting on the western wall of the church. Prior to constructing the display cabinet, long-term measurements of microclimate conditions were taken at several locations in the church, indicating great and sudden fluctuations in relative air humidity (38 – 85 %). A small-scale model was made in order to test the efficiency of the display case in moderating sudden changes of temperature and relative humidity inside the construction. A simple model was designed to ft the dimensions of the niche for the painting on the wall of the church. It consisted of two parts assembled in separate segments: a wooden case for the painting and a decorative glass frame that seals the case. Into the existing decorative frame of the altarpiece, a special non-refection glass with UV flter was installed, and Artsorb sheets were placed on the wooden wall of the case. An instrument for measuring temperature and relative air humidity was installed inside the case, and another control instrument outside the display case. The paper illustrates a simple and economically available model of a microclimate display case by giving an account of a single experience in finding a solution to the problem restorers and conservators come across in their daily work: inappropriate microclimate conditions in the environments the artworks originate from, but whose relocation is not possible. The example of a semi-permeable microclimate display case from Lošinj can prove an acceptable solution in the prevention of destructive effects of climate stress, provided that it complies with the specific features of micro-location, artistic and cultural values, the state of preservation of the artefact and its social circumstances.
Ključne riječi
Bartolomeo Vivarini; Venetian Painting; 15th century; Veli Lošinj; Parish Church of St. Anthony the Abbot; Gasparo Craglietto; conservation and restoration works; microclimate conditions; microclimate display case
Hrčak ID:
106456
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.12.2012.
Posjeta: 1.168 *