Csornay Boldizsár - Hubai Péter szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 96. (Budapest, 2002)

KOVÁCS, ZOLTÁN: A New Representation of the Salvator Mundi from the workshop of Quentin Massys

globe lying on the Saviour's knees is another, smaller sphere, which is modelled in greens and browns. The seated divine figure is represented before a neutral background, with a halo radiating from His head. His long black hair is falling over His shoulders on each side of His face; He has a moustache and a short beard. He is dressed in a monochrome, unadorned robe with a white mantle lined with red. The hues are rather muted; the yellowish, light ochre colour harmony of the background and the dress of Christ is disrupted only by the rose madder and white spots of colour appearing on the mantle. TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS

3 The support of the painting is an oak panel that consists of four, differently sized planks and has been bevelled on all four sides in a margin of ca. 2.5 cm. The vertically joined planks are fixed together with three, somewhat irregular, cigar-shaped hardwood dowels at each joint. Presumably in the late 19th century, a pine cradling had been applied on the rear of the panel in order to reinforce it. The panel was primed with a thin layer of light creamy white ground, a mixture of chalk and glue. The varnish layer over the painted surface has badly yellowed with grime heavily embedded in it. This is particularly conspicuous in the neutral background area behind the figure. There are several small abrasions, flakings, and discoloured retouching over the entire surface of the painting, and especially in the background area.

4 A luminescent photograph taken under ultraviolet light (fig. 34) has revealed the worn and overpainted parts in Christ's hair, His beard, ears, and robe. The forefinger of His raised right hand is completely overpainted, while the middle finger of His left is strongly worn, and some retouching is apparent in the area of the ring finger, as well. There are traces of later corrections in the Saviour's yellowish garment, too; nevertheless, most of the paint in the red drapery beneath His right hand raised in blessing and in the white drapery around the orb has remained intact. Inspection under ultraviolet light has also revealed that Christ's halo was originally much more extensive than can be seen today. The radiance that originates from the head and darkens gradually fades away in a dark-toned ring, which is painted with extremely smooth brushstrokes and extends as far as about one-third of the panel's width. 3 I am grateful to the restorers Ágnes Dicső and Miklós Szentkirályi, whose help in the technical inspection has been invaluable. 4 The painting was restored by Miklós Móré in the early 1950s. Unfortunately, this work was carried out without either written or photographic documentation, in correspondence with the practice followed by restorers at that time. Therefore our only source regarding the condition of the picture previous to the treatment is Mr Móré's recollection. He remembers heavy overpainting in the background as well as in several parts of the figure's dress. There were several heavily worn areas and a great deal of paint loss on the painted surface. The varnish was badly yellowed and embedded with grime. After cleaning the surface and removing the overpainting, the restorer had the picture retouched. I am grateful to Mr Móré for providing the above information.