Nagy Ildikó szerk.: A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria Évkönyve 1989-1991 (MNG Budapest, 1993)

Bakó, Zsuzsanna: SOME DATA ON RESEARCHES AND EFFORTS AIMED AT CONSERVING THE MUNKÁCSY PICTURES

as to take on the fine patina of time, but it grows old and wants to go on living: it loses its colour, develops wrinkles and shrinks when it's cold. The Condemned Cell already shows the ravages of the bitumen, the Lint Makers is practically done in and Milton has suffered a lot."

3 As is apparent from Malonyay's words, the condition of certain Munkácsy pictures attracted attention soon after their creation by virtue of their spectacular and frighteningly rapid deterioration by darkening as well as crackling, with certain details disappearing. Though our knowledge on the causes of this phenomenon is rather defective, the decades-long observation of the pictures and the statements of Munkácsy's contemporaries tend to confirm that the properties of the ground used are to blame for the decay. Bound by sparse resources, the experts of the Hungarian National Gallery have been making efforts to save the pictures for decades. Apart from the shortage of funds, their work was exacerbated by the question being unsettled internationally and by the fear of unknown problems. Accordingly, instead of technical intervention, the first steps taken aimed at improving the external circumstances of the pictures, notably of exhibition and storage in climatized rooms, protecting them from draught and fluctuating temperature, as well as from strong natural and artificial light. Inquiries were also made about relevant international research results, but the answers were in the negative. In the meantime, the condition of the paintings was deteriorating at an accelerated pace, which forced experts to take more serious steps beginning with a thorough assessment. In 1984, 16 best known Munkácsy paintings of the permanent exhibition, presumably worst hit by decay, were put under scrutiny by the Departments of Painting and Conservation of the National Gallery. The goal was to assess their condition and establish the extent of deterioration. Detailed descriptions and photo documentations were also completed of the 16 studied pictures. The investigators differentiated three groups of paintings : the first included the ones that had a thick ground and the movement of the so-called bitumen has already wiped out some details {Night Tramps, Portrait of Munkácsy's Wife, etc.); in the case of the pictures in the second group, in addition to the so-called asphalt ground, the darkening of the coat of varnish caused changes in the first place. With these pictures, details can be seen well when lit appropriately {Condemned Cell, Lint Makers, etc.). The third group contained pictures with a thin grounding layer and hence with minimal or no damage. The main objective of the investigation was to determine the extent and method of technical intervention, i.e. restoration. As a first step, radiographs and luminescent photos were taken of the worst-off pictures. As it turned out, the picture found most decayed and impossible to save according to our present stock of knowledge (his wife's portrait, inv. no.: 6681) was overpainted by Munkácsy. He covered the first version of the picture showing his wife in a white blouse and bodice with the mentioned ground and painted the low-neck black dress upon it. As for pictures in groups two and three, the restorers' intervention was found harmless and later the opalescent varnish was removed from one of them (Lint Makers) exposing the details of the background to view. (Unfortunately, the new coat of varnish has massively opalesced again, so its condition is almost like it was before.) Finally, as a result of the examination, the experts decided on further steps to be taken to improve the environment mainly of the displayed pictures (climate, lighting, etc.) on the one hand and to launch scientific examinations on the other. In 1985, the workers of the Painting Department measured the temperature and humidity of the Munkácsy room twice a day, keeping a record of the figures. Temperature was found to be 19-21 °C and humidity ranged between 45 and 55%. These indices were controlled and permitted by expert restorers. In February 1986, the restorer Lajos Velledits set up a team of an art historian and some chemists and applied for a grant to the National Scientific Research Fund for the scientific examination of the pictures. The application was, however, rejected. Next, the theme went public through television airing, followed by an investigation by the Academy of Sciences in 1987. The panel of professional experts recommended further investigation into the problem. In 1987, the leaders of the National Gallery decided to launch the scientific tests partly from in-house resources and partly from Ministry of Culture support. The problem posed by the Munkácsy pictures required the application of specific, so-far unused methods. The peculiarities of the painting technique make it imperative that researchers should have an insight into the interactions of organic and inorganic matters and sets of materials typical of the studied period and