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

understand the changes caused by these interactions and by the environment. In possession of these examination findings the traditional restoration techniques could be complemented with new up-to-date procedures based on scientific research in order to prevent further deterioration. In 1987 and 1988 the National Gallery signed contracts with various institutions to launch the scientific tests. The major partner was MÁFKI (Hungarian Research Institute for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Veszprém), the tests being conducted by Dr. Zsuzsa Wittmann. Other partners included Dr. Klára Török and Márta BendefTy of the KM I (Central Museum Management) and Dr. Imre Pozsgai of the Research Institute for Technical Physics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The efforts were professionally coordinated by restorer Lajos Velledits and organized by art historian Dr. Zsuzsa Bakó of the Hungarian National Gallery. In 1989 the Academy's Isotope Institute (Ottó Létz) and Geochemical Research Institute (Dr. György Pantó) as well as the ELTE University of Budapest (Dr. László Bognár) also joined in. The tests concentrated on the structure of materials causing the decay and the deterioration of the different components. In 1987 and 1988, 7 paintings were examined: Lint Makers 1871, Night Tramps 1872-73, Portrait of Cardinal Haynald 1886, Studio 1876, Taking Leave 1872-73, Portrait of the Artist's Wife c. 1880, Condemned Cell 1870. As a result of the investigations, the true composition of the material called bitumen or asphalt was established for the studied pictures. The component are: beeswax and resins, sandarac and mastic, gum arabic, turpentine, linseed oil, and a pigment containing ferric oxide. Already in this phase of research, several misunderstandings were banished and unsettled questions answered, but the research still going on, it is too early to draw the final conclusions. Parallel with launching the examinations, the Hungarian National Gallery organized a conference of French and Hungarian restorers in the autumn of 1987. Ms. Ségolène Bergeon, head of the Restoration Department of the French National Museums, told Hungarian experts her views on the problem also encountered in France. She claimed that the material causing similar problems in certain pictures by Delacroix, Géricault and Prudhon is composed of an unidentified kind of oil and lead. Papers were read on the topic by Lajos Velledits, Klára Török and Zsuzsa Wittmann at the conference. In 1989, the examinations went on, but the financial resources kept dwindling, and in 1990 they practically stopped. In 1989, Dr. Zsuzsa Wittman went on a study trip to London where she exchanged views and experiences with experts of the National Gallery engaged by similar problems. In hope of continuing the researches, a long-term project was elaborated in 1989 by Dr. Zsuzsa Wittmann, Lajos Velledits and Zsuzsa Bakó, entitled "Research Project for the Saving of Munkácsy's Lifework". The programme briefly reviews the achievements so far and determines the further tasks, with a detailed specification of the goals in view of the expected results, and designates the investigation methods as well as the institutions and persons to be involved. The project extends the research to the entire Munkácsy oeuvre with a selection of works from each period and to some other paintings of the 19th and 20th centuries displaying similar problems. The project was devised in the hope that with the future stabilization of the economy, perhaps the necessary financial means will be available for researches that are vital for the preservation of the Munkácsy oeuvre.