Drama, of which the National Gallery of silent half
ARTinvestment.RU   16 мая 2008

The National Gallery of split in two, the picture of the Renaissance

The National Gallery of split in two, the picture of the Renaissance.

As reported by The Art Newspaper, the London National Gallery has one of the most serious in the history of museums in the UK of damaging the painting because of the messy treatment. Pictorial panels «Marcia» of the Italian Renaissance artist Domenico Bekkafumi fell to the floor and split in half. An accident occurred during the dismantling of the exhibition «Renaissance Siena» ( «the Siena artists of the Renaissance»), which closed on 13 January. Dr Nicholas Penny, holding the post of Director of the National Gallery in February, admitted that the incident «very serious».

«Marcia», the age which has about 500 years old, slipped out of the temporary frame and dropped on the floor, when the gallery removed it from the wall in the wing «Seynsberi». The film is written in three vertical plates, the height of each of them almost meter. From the impact broke the left board.

To carry out restoration work, which is in the National Gallery, normally require the permission of members, but in this case the «cure» picture needed urgently. Chairman Peter Scott has agreed to carry out restoration work immediately after being informed of the incident.

Restorers connect two parts of the picture, and lagging fixed paint. Also part of the picture retouch was due to a loss of paint on the fault lines (the width in cm).

Head of the restoration, Martin Wilde, who at the time was director of the gallery, immediately asked to draw up a protocol, whose purpose was to investigate the causes of the incident and take steps to ensure that such incidents do not occur. An investigation has been long, but now it is nearing completion.

In the past, the museums of Great Britain rarely reported accidents with the exhibits, but now the National Gallery was ready to publicly acknowledge the seriousness of the incident. On it was briefly discussed at the meeting of the Board of Trustees February 8, the gallery (which has just announced the gallery website). Department for Culture, Media and Sport also has been advised.

Preliminary results of official investigations are: the gallery staff who carry out the dismantling of the exhibition, did not know that the frame in which the displayed image was used solely to enhance the visual effect, and the picture was not firmly attached to it. However, before dismantling them should carefully check the frame and mounting.

«Marcia» was restored in late January and moved to its former place in the hall of A. According to the galleries, traces of the damage to the painting is not visible the naked eye. Under the current coverage of the vertical fracture line is almost not visible when looking directly at the picture, but it can be seen, if we look at work on the left side.

«Marcia» - one of the three series of paintings «Women exemplary». These works depict figures embody virtues. The paintings were created around 1519 to decorate the bedrooms, Francesco Petrucci. «Marcia» and another picture from the series, «Tanakil», owned by the National Gallery. For the exhibition «Renaissance Siena» from the gallery Doria-PAMFIL in Rome was brought third picture - «Cornelia». All the paintings exhibited in modern frames.

Source: www.theartnewspaper.com