Conservation around the Millennium (Hungarian National Museum, 2001)
Pages - 48
5. Detail of the doge-painting after cleaning and completion. Sometimes we used coloured substances to fill in the gaps 6. Orsini’s face in semi-profile from the painting that depicts Pope Innocent VIII. The reddish brown spots on the face and the blackish spot behind the nape came from the coloured glue mentioned in the article. A port scene appeared in the background of the painting: people are busy around a recently docked ship. The dog behind the military leader could hardly be seen, it could have been thought to be an ornamental cushion. When the excessive contrast caused by the vibration of gaps and fillings was diminished, some details of the shape appeared, which afforded filling in new parts and this, in turn, led to the expounding of even more elements. Two more dogs were discovered. Paint blots that could not be understood until then turned out, during reconstruction, to be a lying dog on the stairs and a white dog in the port scene. After two years of restoration, the frescoes could be placed into their deserved place in the permanent exhibition of the Museum of Fine Arts, where they open new vistas not only for art connoiseurs but also for art historians. Restorers who took part in the work: István Bóna jnr., Ágnes Bucsi, Kornélia Forrai, Mariann Hoós, Ildikó Jeszeniczky, István Lente, Péter Menráth, Éva Somos, Erika Verba. 48
