Restoration of the Virgin of Bethlehem and the Virgin of the Rosary in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption
Located in Colmenar Viejo
The General Directorate of Heritage of the Community of Madrid has restored the canvas Virgin of Bethlehem by Alonso del Arco, a work from the second half of the 17th century, and has carried out a technical study of the polychromy of the sculpture Virgin of the Rosary, a work from the first third of the 16th century. Both works are located in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption in Colmenar Viejo, as part of an interesting collection of paintings and sculptures of great historical and artistic value that this temple preserves.
Restoration of the Virgin of Bethlehem
This is an easel painting from the second half of the 17th century, located in the sacristy of the parish church. The canvas depicts the Virgin with a golden crown with cabochons and double-headed eagles and the Child Jesus in her arms.
The support is made of plain-weave linen fabric with a plain weave and was lined in a previous restoration. The frame decorated with mouldings of plant motifs is made of carved and gilded wood, possibly from the late 17th or early 18th century.
An analysis of the state of conservation of the work was carried out prior to the intervention: The support It was stretched over a pine wood frame that retained its wedges and showed no alterations. cpreparation apa It presented alterations probably produced by ironing during the relining of a previous restoration and the pictorial layer It was in good condition, with occasional losses, abrasions and lifting of some restoration work from the previous restoration.
For its part, the frame It was structurally stable, with some loss of gold leaf and numerous overpaintings with glitter that partially covered the original gold. It also showed abrasions, wear and dirt accumulation.
The restoration project involved the minimum interventions necessary for the conservation of the canvas, using stable and reversible materials that would not affect the original materials and would integrate perfectly into the work.
The interventions that have been carried out have been the following:
- Removing the frame from its frame and cleaning it: The canvas has been mechanically cleaned, removing the remains of the perimeter paper, as well as repainting and varnishing. Some old stuccos have been preserved in good condition and restored using watercolour and pointillist techniques.
- Coated of the lagoons and varnishing of the canvas.
- Reinstatement with watercolor and pointillist technique.
- Retensioning and placement of wedge holders. Placement of foam board backing.
- Cleaning, gold plating and removing glitter from the frame.
- Filling the corners from the central moulding of the frame.
- Reinstatement of the frame with watercolor of the stuccos that remained hidden by the glitter.
- Protection gold and varnished with retouching varnish over the entire frame.
Restoration of the Virgin of the Rosary
This is a round sculpture dating from the first third of the 16th century by an anonymous artist. It represents the Virgin of the Rosary with Child. A work of Flemish influence that is evident in the figure of the Virgin, in the workmanship of the tunic and the cloak and in the expression of the faces.
Generally the state of conservation The quality of the work was good. However, the work had been completely repainted, which did not correspond stylistically to the original. The colours used and the layer of glossy varnish that covered it did not correspond to the period of execution of the carving, as confirmed by the results of the chemical and stratigraphic analyses.
This re-polychromy was done with a very rough workmanship on the Virgin's cloak, in flesh tones and in the hair of the Virgin and Child, which gave it a flat and unnatural appearance, considerably devaluing its historical and artistic value. Both the Virgin and the Child wear two crowns that also do not correspond to the stylistic period of the work. At the time, a crown must have surrounded the entire sculpture. halo or glow as demonstrated by the preserved hooks on the sides of the figure of the Virgin.
The sculpture had several anthropic damages affecting both the support and the polychromy, as it is a processional sculpture. These damages consisted of cracks, bumps, scratches, abrasions, wear and loss of volume.
The support did not show any attack by wood-eating insects, but there were occasional losses of volume, the most obvious being the loss of three fingers on the Child's right hand.
Between the last third of the 19th century and the first third of the 20th century, the image was repainted, presenting a very fine acrylic resin varnish.
En the restoration project A study of the sculpture was carried out, intervening on its support and polychromy. Due to its deterioration, it was removed and polychromed again, respecting the original composition of the work.
Specifically, the interventions carried out were the following:
- Cleaning surface dust with mechanical means: vacuum cleaner and soft bristle brush.
- Sampling for chemical and stratigraphic analysis in the laboratory.
- Opening windows at different points of the sculpture's polychromy, selecting four areas of study and contrast to analyse a possible appearance of remains of original polychromy, minimising as much as possible the damage susceptible to this technique. The windows are a method of research on the pictorial layer that consists of making microcuts in the different strata of the polychromy, using physical-chemical means for this.
- Sitting and fixing layers of polychromy.
- Restoration of the cracks in the Virgin's cloak
- Intervention on the support and polychromy with risk of detachment: As a process of stabilizing the support and the polychromy, two cracks in the back of the sculpture, in the Virgin's cloak, have been restored and the polychromy has been consolidated at different points of the work.
- Reinstatement with watercolor and pointillist technique.
- Stucco and varnish protection.
