In the first half of the 20th
century, Sternen's restoration trail was dotted by numerous works of art and
monuments of Slovenian, as well as (now-former) Yugoslavian, cultural heritage.
His extensive oeuvre of restored oil paintings has not yet been comprehensively
explored. Here is an interesting example of his interventions on a signed oil
painting of the Crucifixion with Mary Magdalene (323 x 224 cm) from the
Church of the Three Magi in Brunk, where it adorned the south side altar of St
Aloysius until 2007, and which is now temporarily housed in the Church of St
Peter in Radeče. The author of the painting is Paolo Rossini, a Late-Baroque
Italian painter of Brescian origin, who is almost unknown in our country. The
Brunek painting is considered to stand near the peak of his oeuvre and is
tentatively dated to the beginning of the second half of the 18th century
(1760–1770). We could venture to say that he created it during his stay in
Venice in 1767, when his name is mentioned in a census of Venetian painters. We
have the complete documentation of the first documented restoration work
carried out on the badly damaged painting by Matej Sternen in collaboration
with the Vienna Central Commission for Research and Preservation of
Architectural and Artistic Monuments and the first conservator for Carniola
France Stele. Sternen carried out the work sometime between 1912 and 1921, when
he completed the restoration. The cost estimate and programme of work, which he
prepared as early as 1911 on the 1910 instruction of the Vienna Central
Commission, was also approved by the Central Commission in 1912 on the
condition that he carry out the work in constant consultation with them, while
retouching is limited to the most necessary, avoiding overpainting. The
Commission requested a photograph of the condition of the painting before and
after the completion of the restoration work. In his report to the Monuments
Office in Ljubljana on 10 May 1921, Sternen included valuable technological and
material data, which were not published by him, but, as usual for Sternen's
other restoration campaigns, by France Stele. The study of this Sternen-Stele
project reveals interesting details about the historical circumstances of that
time, the development of monument protection service and thus of restoration,
and concrete information on the planning of the intervention, the financing,
the execution of the restoration work and the consequences of the final
presentation, which, due to small gestures, can change the meaning of the
signature and thus the art-historical interpretation.
The high-quality black and white image Crucified with Mary Magdalene from the Church of the Three Magi in
Brunek shows that the decorative frame has been removed from the painting and
that it is in a state prior to Sternen's restoration. It is an 'en face' print,
probably by Stele, presumably from 1914 or shortly before.
Ministry of Culture
of the Republic of Slovenia, INDOK Centre, 5846n
Author
Mateja Neža Sitar, Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage of Slovenia, Regional Unit Maribor
Presented: Thursday, 2 February 2023, 6 p.m
2 February – 1 March 2023
National Gallery of Slovenia
Prešernova 24
1000 Ljubljana