Restoration of the painting God the Father from the Convent of the Discalced Trinitarians
Oil painting from the second half of the 17th century
The work represents the image of God the Father, in a hieratic posture, seated on the clouds and surrounded by angels and cherubs. Above his head is a triangle symbolizing eternity and the Trinity. He holds the globe in his left hand and blesses with his right.
The frame, made of polychrome wood and gilded with fine gold, features plant decoration on the four corners with palm leaf trim.
The author's signature, Alonso del Arco, appears in the lower left corner of the work.
After the restoration treatments carried out, the work God the Father from the chapter house of the Monastery of San Ildefonso and San Juan de Mata or Convent of Discalced Trinitarians of Madrid, has recovered its original reading, showing a wealth of very remarkable chromatic and compositional nuances.
God the Father after his restoration
The painting God the Father after its restoration
Previous state of conservation
The work presented widespread accumulation of dust and organic dirt.
The paint layer showed some more visible losses at the bottom, with a yellowish appearance due to the oxidation of the varnish and a matte appearance due to the dirt that covered it.
The work presented a structural imbalance, a very evident effect, as the canvas did not fit the frame. This was a consequence of a previous intervention in which wedges were added and the work was repainted. The stability of the painting was impaired, so immediate intervention was necessary to prevent the work from being damaged if it moved and fell out of the frame.
The backing, made of thick taffeta, had good tension, however, it showed losses due to pecking, with visible tears in the upper right corner.
The work featured numerous repaints, clearly visible in the ochre area of the sky and at the edges of that area. In the blue background near the signature, a halo of a different color could be seen, confirming the repainting in this part of the canvas.
The most obvious alteration to the work was the decomposition of the bonding adhesive and the preparation layer materials, which had cracked in some places on the painting, causing it to lift.
Furthermore, the decomposition of the material, combined with mechanical movements and environmental changes, caused loss of material from the preparation layer.
The work bore witness to past interventions, not always successful, such as relining the canvas, plastering over missing pieces of the paint layer, repainting, and varnishing. The materials used in these interventions were severely damaged due to their degradation.
Restoration of the work
- Separating the canvas from the frameThe anchoring between the frame and the canvas was not good; it was held in place by nails placed in the frame and bent towards the stretcher bars.
- Cleaning soft, with soft hair brushes and an air vacuum cleaner, from the front and back of the painting.
- Replacing the frameThe replaced frame is not the original; a new one was chosen as it would provide greater stability for the canvas.
- Wallpapering the surface of the pictorial layer to avoid tension and protect it. The correction of deformations and color setting were done in one go; after which the wallpaper was removed, which made it possible to eliminate the lifts.
- Chemical cleaning and mechanical cleaning of the paint layer which was covered in a very thick layer of overpaint. It was necessary to clean it several times to remove the scale and paint. The stuccoed areas that overlapped the painted layer were removed with a scalpel.
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Stucco removal hard and old from the pictorial layer of a previous restoration.
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Coated Using a color close to that of the primer. The goal was to level the gaps in the stucco with the painted surface, achieving a surface similar to the original polychrome, without uneven sheen after the final varnish.
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Varnishing of the painting surface to protect the stucco and finish saturating the color, as well as isolating chromatic reintegrations.
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Chromatic reintegration: The gaps in the pictorial film were reintegrated using the differential technique of pointillism. To protect the chromatic reintegration, a final protection, a varnishing with an air compressor.
El Marco It was in very good condition although it had some alterations due to the presence of nail holes and marks from previous mechanical elements and small material defects caused by tears and blows.
Jobs restoration have consisted of:
- A cleaning mechanical with soft hair brush on the front and back,
- La wood disinfection by impregnation and injection of anti-woodworm.
- La extraction of elements outside the frame and that they no longer performed their function.
- The pictorial layer needed to be done setting of the preparation layer and the gilding film with adhesive.
- Cleaning gilding film chemistry.
- Volumetric reintegrations of faults with stucco and pictorial reintegrations.
- Final varnishing.
Finally, the painting was mounted on the frame. A strip of self-adhesive felt was placed on the frame box to protect the edge of the painting that is in contact with the wood and prevent scratches during subsequent mountings. Foam board panels were also screwed to each quadrant of the frame to cushion the influence of ambient humidity on the back of the canvas.
Technical sheet
- Author
Alonso del Arco (1635-1704)
- Dating:
Second half of the 17th century, Baroque
Marco: nineteenth century
- Material and technique:
Oil on canvas
Frame: polychrome wood and gilded with fine gold.
- Dimensions (with frame):
Height: 95,8 cm. Width: 130,5 cm.
Chapter house of the Monastery of San Ildefonso and San Juan de Mata or Convent of the Discalced Trinitarians
Lope de Vega Street No. 18, Madrid
The Church of the Monastery of San Ildefonso and San Juan de Mata was declared a National Monument by Royal Order of September 17, 1921, and the Convent of the Discalced Trinitarians on November 11, 1943.
By Order 19/2017 of the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, the protected area of the Convent of the Discalced Trinitarian Nuns was delimited.
The restored canvas is a protected asset of the Community of Madrid.
- Work team:
Yolanda López Fernández Sarga. Conservation and Restoration of Works of Art.
- Date of the intervention:
2024
- Menéndez Pidal, Ramón: "The Convent of the Trinitarians of Madrid." In Bulletin of the Royal Academy of History, vol. 79 (1921), pp. 97-99 and 474-74, and vol. 112 (1943), pp. 141-142.
- Aranjo y Costa, J. “The convent of the Trinitarias.” In HL Madrid, October 15 of 1951.
- Tovar Martín, V. (1990): “The Monastery of Barefoot Trinitarian Religious Sisters of San Ildefonso in Madrid”, Spanish Art Archive, No. 251, pp. 401-418.
