Kovács Petronella (szerk.): Isis - Erdélyi magyar restaurátor füzetek 6. (Székelyudvarhely, 2007)
Kiss Hédy: A Székely Nemzeti Múzeumban őrzött zászlók állapotfelmérése
Preface and Abstracts At the sixth postgraduate conference at Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc), many conservators from Transylvania reported about their work beside lecturers from Hungary and Germany. This volume contains mostly their studies since we intend to illustrate the actual situation of the condition of art objects in Transylvania and the Partium and the work done for their protection. We find the measures taken for the rescuing of library and archives documents and the written and printed documents of depopulating parishes especially important since first of all the latter ones would perish unless they are collected conserved and properly stored. Preventive conservation, including the creation of an optimal environment for the objects of art to slow down their deterioration, has been placed in the focus all over the world with the purpose to avert the race restorers have to run against time and with the conservation of the huge number of objects that have been heaped up in the collections and have not been conserved or got deteriorated in consequence of improper storing conditions. However, the development of proper exhibition and storing conditions will need a long time despite our efforts, and the work done by restorers will not be superfluous even then. It is good news that training of object conservators has been started on a university level in Nagyszeben (Sibiu) in the co-operation of the Lucian Blaga University and the Astra Museum beside the painting conservator training going back to a long tradition in Bucureşti and lately also introduced in Iasi. Our annul publication contains the thesis works of two students of the first class that has graduated. In result of the professional contacts established at Hungarian and international conferences and at the postgraduate trainings at Székelyudvarhely (Odorheiu Secuiesc) during the past decades, one of the students could carry out a part of his/ her work in the Department of Methodology and Training of Conservation of the Hungarian National Museum. Beside the specialists of the Astra Museum, the conservator of object restorer training organised in the co-operation of the Hungarian University of Fine Arts and the HNM took part in the direction of the conservation of the object of the thesis work. In the academic year of 2005, connected with training of conservators, an exhibition was organised in the Palló Imre Music School from items chosen from the material of the annual exhibition “Megmentett műkincsek” (Preserved art Treasures) of the HNM, which contains art objects conserved by the students graduated from painting, sculptor, wood, furniture, metal-goldsmith, paperleather, textile-leather and siliceous objects conservator branches. Getting acquainted with the constructed heritage is an important component of postgraduate training. This time we visited the monuments of the “rough land of old Szilágy”. We have to fulfil a sad obligation in this volume. We have to take leave of our colleague Ernő Nemes Kovács (Szilágysomlyó, 1973 - Málta, 2007) wood sculpture conservator, one of the lecturers of the conference, who died very young. Miklós SZENTKIRÁLYI Restoration of Miklós Munkácsy’s large painting titled Christ before Pilate The first painting of Mihály Munkácsy’s Christ “trilogy” was first shown to the public in Paris in 1881. More than 100 years later, the panting arrived in the Déri Museum in Debrecen as the last of the three in February 1995. The owner of the painting lent it on the condition that it would be restored. In preparation to the restoration, analyses were carried out with the purpose to evidently separate the pigment and varnish layers applied by Munkácsy and the ones coming from later interventions. The study of contemporary documents was an equally important task. In 1881, Adolf Braun made photos of even the tiniest details in Munkácsy’s studio in Paris. The photos, which Mrs Munkácsy’s younger sister donated to the museum of Békéscsaba in 1928, were the most important sources at the investigation of the authenticity of the work of art. The two methods excellently completed each other and explained certain problems that surfaced at the observation of the painting technique. According to the results of the analyses we decided that the layers that were not contemporary to the painting, that is the dirt, the overpaintings and the darkened varnish layers would be removed, then the uncovered original surface would be conserved, varnished and finally aesthetically retouched. Munkácsy often used bitumen in his paintings. The mystery of “asphalt” has often been debated and studied. Thus we paid special attention to the determination of the areas painted with bitumen and to the study of the layer structure of these areas during the analysis of the painting. We also investigated if this material has caused or could cause deformations. As we could observe, the painter really 82
