Az Egri Múzeum Évkönyve - Annales Musei Agriensis 16.-17. (1978-1979)

Osgyányi Vilmos: Marco Casagrande Eger várbeli Szent István király szobrának restaurálása

Vilmos Osgyänyi THE RESTORATION OF MARCO CASAGRANDE'S STATUE OF THE KING ST. STEPHEN IN THE FORTRESS OF EGER The statue sculptured by Marco Casagrande „King St. Stephen offers the Country to the Madonna" has been restored in the school-year 1976—1977 by the Institute for Restoration of the Hungarian School of Art, within the sphere of a diploma work. The statue, which in the year 1835 had been placed by the provost Durcsák János on a clustered pillar-stump, belonging to the XVIth century gothic cathedral, was damaged during the II. world-war. The stone material began to crumble on the damaged surfaces, that is why the restoration became necessary. The rhyolite tuff, which is found in the surroundings of Eger had been used for building purposes already in the XII—XIII-th centuries. Casagrande sculptured his statue from this material, but the stone originated from the quarry of Demand, which was exploited in the beginning of the XIX-th century. Under our climatic circumstances, this stone-material can not be used on outside surfaces, without applying mortar or paint. As soon as this surface protection ceases, the material of the tuff, which cementated from vulcanic ash, can no more resist the effect of the frost. Marco Casagrande is typically the sculptor, who carved his statues after modelling. He generally paid no attention to the block of stone ; if the figure had no place in the given size of stone, he completed the block by fastening another piece of stone to it, with the help of an iron stud, then went on with the carving of the statue. The reason why this statue was suitable to the task of a diploma work was, that all such problems appeared together, which could be the objective of a stone restorer. The tasks which had to be solved were the following : historical research, determination of the completion material, the technical way of executing the completion from the point of view of the sculptor. In modern restorer shops these tasks are each completed by an expert. In the Hungarian restorer praxis we have no such specialization yet, especially not in stone restoration. Of course along with this specialization, we should have modern, well equipped restoration laboratories. During the preparatory researches of the King St. Stephen statue, it became obvious that there were facts enough at disposal for the total completion. But the quantity of data is only one factor to make us decide for a total completion. It was an important point of view, that the statue is going to get back to its original place, it will continue to function, and that it does not possess such historical or aesthetic values, which would demand for a more prudent or a more correct method of completion, considering the point of view of museology. In this case the Commission decided for a total completion, provided with the suitable marks, as it is done at all times, when it is question of a functioning work of art. The picture taken in 1934. which shows a still intact state, was the basis of the completion preparations. The conservation of the stone material was made partly with injections of paraloid, partly with stucco, used for monuments and the basic material of which is natural. The completing form was put on the stone fracture with modelling and a gypsum negative form was made of it, after this, the final form cast, the completion was made of a special kind of artificial 251