Click images above
to view full-sized before and after pictures. Pictured: Blessing Christ, 13th century. Images used courtesy of
the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Need
The Saint Louis Art Museum will soon reopen its early European
galleries. As part of that new display the museum had wanted
to include a polychrome (painted) wood sculpture, Blessing
Christ. The 13th-century piece is the museum’s
only example of medieval Spanish sculpture, and it is one
the few represented in American museum collections. The sculpture
had not been on view for more than 30 years and its condition
was extremely fragile: the wood was powdery, the paint actively
peeling, a large crack disfigured the face. The sculpture,
depicting a standing Christ with an arm raised in a blessing,
could not even be placed in an upright position.
The sculpture was in critical need of conservation
care, but the museum did not have a conservator with special
knowledge of polychrome wood. A grant was needed to send the
sculpture to a conservator with the specialized skills and
knowledge needed to stabilize the piece.
In addition, the museum saw a need to bring
the story of the conservation of the piece and other polychrome
sculptures in its collection to its student audiences. With
funding from IMLS, the museum would be able to develop, produce,
and distribute a curriculum packet for teachers. The packet
would discuss career opportunities in museum conservation
and show how careful examination leads to new discoveries
about works of art.
Project design and goals
The Saint Louis Art Museum applied for a Conservation
Project Support grant primarily to stabilize Blessing Christ for eventual display to the public. The funding
would enable the museum to send the sculpture to a medieval
art conservation specialist at the Cloisters of the Metropolitan
Museum of Modern Art. Objects conservator Lucretia Kargere
could offer her knowledge of how paint is applied and how
a surface is prepared for painting, as well as an understanding
of the wood encountered in medieval works of art.
The work of Kargere was intended to address
further goals of the project. For one, Judith Mann, curator
of the museum’s early European collection, had hoped
to address the prominent vertical crack in the face of the
figure. With sculpture, museums do not always fill holes and
losses or try to reconstruct missing parts. When they do,
decisions are made based on mitigating those things that seem
to interfere with the viewer’s ability to appreciate
the aesthetics of the entire piece. In the case of Blessing
Christ, Mann authorized a fully reversible patching and
retouching so that visitors could see the beauty of the face
as originally intended.
Curator Mann also hoped that Kargere’s
conservation detective work would shed some light on questions
surrounding the sculpture. Mann had long been aware that the
sculpture had been painted more than once. A visible layer
of paint showed a dotted floral pattern. She hoped to get
clues about how the piece may have been painted in the past.
In addition, the museum’s records about the piece included
documentation describing some question of the sculpture’s
authenticity. Another goal of the project, therefore, was
to confirm for the record Mann’s view that the sculpture
was indeed from the medieval period and was not simply a later
work “in the style of” medieval art.
The goal of the museum interpretation staff’s
curriculum packet was to help teachers introduce students
to careers in museum conservation and show the role of the
conservator as a detective who can uncover important events
or details in the life of a work of art.
Plan in Action
Kargere successfully addressed the immediate concerns about
the fragility of Blessing Christ. After removing
accumulated dirt and grime, she consolidated paint on the
sculpture with a water-soluble gelatine solution and stabilized
the portions of the wood damaged by insects so that the piece
could again be lifted upright.
The conservator also examined paint samples
under a microscope for clues to their composition and sent
two tiny paint samples to a lab for analysis. Kargare discovered
that the sculpture had been painted only twice in its 800-year
life and that a good bit of the original layer of paint remained.
An analysis of the paint pigment showed that the original
paint layer was from the 13th century. The pattern she discerned
was similar to patterns she had seen on other early medieval
pieces, including one of a seated Virgin and Child at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. This bit of news laid to rest
any idea that the work was from a later period.
Kargere was able to sketch out the original
painted design of the work, as well as the later painted design
that she determined was from the 17th or 18th century.
Once the sculpture was stabilized, curator and
conservator discussed cosmetic options for the face. The facial
gap was filled with removable paper filler that was then retouched
with removable paint to blend with the face. The less distracting
portion of the crack in the hair of the figure remains. A
detailed report was written and returned with the treated
sculpture to be included in the sculpture’s permanent
files.
The curriculum packet was the first developed
by the museum and served as a prototype for two later curriculum
packets for teachers. The packet was designed to explore such
conservation issues as: How do we understand how objects are
made and how they look? How do various methods of conservation
analysis illuminate the historical context of a work of art?
How do conservators preserve and restore painted wooden sculpture?
What are the limitations of restoration?
The packet’s booklet has five lesson plans
based on five polychrome sculptures in the museum’s
collection. Written by a contract writer with input from the
curator and conservators, the booklet also includes historical
background, a piece on careers in art, a vocabulary list,
and selected bibliography. The packet comes with images of
the artworks on paperboard and on CD-ROM and is packaged in
an attractive box package labeled, “Layers of Meaning:
How Conservators Protect Art.”
Four hundred copies of the packet were produced.
Many were put in the museum’s remote resource centers
at the public libraries in the city and surrounding county;
many others were distributed for free to teachers who requested
copies. And some were distributed at a workshop the museum
held to introduce teachers to the new resource.
Results
The packets were a hit with area schools, especially among
the Catholic schools, of which St. Louis has many. Jean Turney,
fourth grade teacher at St. John the Baptist in south Saint
Louis used it at her former school and uses it with her current
class at St. John’s. A museum member, Turney enjoys
visits to the museum personally and has participated in general
teacher workshops offered at the museum. She has used the
packet for a variety of lessons that have included fieldtrips
to the museum. She said, “Incorporating art into the
curriculum adds a layer of appreciation for the resources
students have in their neighborhood.”
She used information in the packet to explore
museum careers with her students and to discuss how decisions
about conservation treatment are made. She said students enjoyed
thinking about how things were made, why they were saved,
and why a museum would or would not keep objects looking old.
Mann hopes that visitors to the museum’s
soon-to-be-opened early European galleries will also consider
such questions. The display of Blessing Christ
will include a special text panel showing the two painted
designs uncovered by the conservator and will describe how
the appearance of works of art can be changed over the years
by their owners. She said, “We’re hoping that
museum visitors will take away that idea from this piece and
begin to look more discriminatingly at other pieces.”
Resources
Copies of the curriculum packet are still available. The charge
is $8.00 for shipping. To request one, email: resource.center@slam.org
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