Műtárgyvédelem, 2009 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)
Vali Zsuzsanna: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum tulajdonában lévő, Péter és Pál apostolt ábrázoló bizánci ikon restaurálása
Vali Zsuzsanna • Péter és Pál apostolt ábrázoló bizánci ikon restaurálása ... Conservation of the Byzantine icon of Apostles Peter and Paul preserved in the Museum of Applied Arts Zsuzsanna Vali The small, 15 cm x 15.5 cm large icon owned by the Museum of Applied Arts belongs in a special iconographic type. The painter, who can probably be linked with the Constantinople school, depicted the embracing half-figures of Apostles Peter and Paul on a round support. An apocryphal story stands in the background of the representation: before their death, the Apostles took leave of each other in Rome. The literature mentions six icons from the 15th century that belong to the same representation type. György Rúzsa dated the icon from 1370-1390 from its style. It can be observed in the archival photos that the painting was very fragmentary when it got into the museum. About 30-40 % of the gesso and pigment layer perished and the canvas backing, which could be seen where the layers were missing, got detached from the support. Dezső Varga conserved the icon in 1982. He glued back the canvas and the edges of the detached gesso and pigment layers probably with Vinavil - poly(vinyl-acetate) — dispersion, he sealed the missing areas and moderately retouched the painting with watercolour. The object had to be conserved in the academic year of 2008/2009 because half of the original gesso and pigment layers of the icon got crocodiled and detached from the support and the canvas. We found after the removal of the sealant that the concentric round grooves observed on the back of the panel, which came from the turning of the wooden board, were also visible on the front. This uneven support did not provide a continuous flat contact area for the canvas. A significant result was that the features of the faces of the figures, which were difficult to see with bare eyes and other photo-technical methods, became evident when the under-drawing appeared in the shot taken at infra light in the range of about 1100 nm.The microscopic analysis of the grain sample taken from the gesso demonstrated that calcite was added to the plaster priming. The component analysis of the sample taken from green pigment aggregate occurring in the surfaces painted in ochre and green demonstrated elements that can be found in green-earth. During the conservation, the covered part of the top of Peter’s head appeared as the sealant had been removed. The complete removal of the sealant was justified by the fact that originally there had been a slight level difference between the picture field and the frame: the picture field had somewhat been deepened. This level difference disappeared in consequence of the application of the sealant, and only a line incised into the sealant marked the border between the frame and the picture field. The detached layers were fixed with glue injected in the object. The missing areas of the priming were replaced with the deeper level of the picture field in mind. The retouching was carried 47
