The painting Christian Love by the Venetian
Baroque painter Francesco Pittoni is one of the pair of paintings acquired for
the National Gallery's collection a few years ago. The two works originate from
the Planina Mansion near Rakek, which was burnt down during the Second World
War. After the fire, most of the works of art were sold to antique dealers in
Trieste. Francesco Pittoni depicted the personification of Christian love
dressed in a red cloak and surrounded by three children representing the triple
power of love.
When it was acquired, the painting was in worse
condition than its counterpart Caritas Romana and posed a particular
challenge for the conservation-restoration specialists. Due to numerous damages
to the canvas support and missing parts of the canvas, the painting was later
glued to a wooden panel, so the original support and the sustained damage to
the canvas were not visible to the naked eye. The extent of the damage was
determined only after several detailed investigations, which also revealed the
condition of the preserved original paint under the overpaintings. As a
surprise, the author's changes in the composition (so-called pentimenti)
were also revealed on the X-ray image: the changed position of the child's hand
in the lap and the position of the child's head. During the search for
compositional solutions, an artist could change parts of the painting. When
these changes, due to chemical processes in the material or mechanical damage,
become visible over time, we ask ourselves what to do? Do we cover them up, as
the author wanted, or do we reveal the backstory? The author's original
intention was not to show his painting process, but his corrections in the
composition are still extremely interesting, both for viewers and art
historians.
During the investigations, we also confirmed that the
original pattern of the folds of the cloak the central figure is wearing is
completely different from the folds in the later overpainting, changing the
overall understanding of the painting and obscuring the original softness of
the artist's technique. Due to inconsistent retouches and overpaintings that do
not correspond to the painter's original painting strokes, the authorship of
the work may remain unrecognizable, so the transfer of information between the
restorer and the art historian about the findings during the conservation-restoration
intervention was crucial. As a rule, decisions on what to preserve and what
not, do not solely rest with a conservator-restorer. In our case, too, an
expert commission was assembled, which unanimously approved the removal of
subsequent overpaintings and the preservation of visible pentimenti.
The present investigations of the support and the
paint layer have enabled the conservation-restoration specialists to see,
recognize and reinterpret Pittoni's distinctive painterly expression.
Author
Andreja Ravnikar
Presented: Thursday, 4 May, 6 p.m.
4 May – 31 May 2023
National Gallery of Slovenia
Prešernova 24
1000 Ljubljana