Műtárgyvédelem, 2010 (Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum)
Görbe Katalin: Szent Jakab csodája
Műtárgyvédelem 35 A fotókat készítették: Kosa Zoltán és Hegedűs Judit, Simon Mária Magdolna hallgatók. A Miracle by St. Jacob Katalin Görbe Doing the academic year 2008—9, the task of restoring a large canvas picture in extremely poor condition was assigned to fourth-year students at the Department of Restoration, Hungarian University of Fine Arts. With regard to the painting’s origins, we knew merely that it had come from a cloister in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The state of the surface, unclear to the point of being unidentifiable in some places, made analysis of the subject-matter extremely difficult, and also the decipherment of the Gothic-script German inscriptions below the various picture fields. In parallel with the restoration work, research took place into the age and history of the picture. As a result of this, it became clear that the painting showed four scenes of a miracle by St. James, and that, on the basis of stylistic features, the work could be dated to the 17th century. This last conclusion was supported by scientific analysis of the materials used. The piece was in a critical condition: the upper left-hand quarter of the picture had been cut out at an unknown date and what remained had been rolled up tightly, with the consequence that it had deteriorated a great deal. Because of poor storage, the paint layer had started to flake strongly and the edges of the canvas had split away. Additionally, the canvas had shrunk because of damp and a significant part of the upper right-hand picture field was missing. Although intended to save the painting, earlier conservation work had in fact made the situation much worse: the separating of strips of canvas stuck together with adhesive that was too strong caused major problems. In comparison with the tasks of average difficulty, planning the schedule of the restoration and harmonising the materials and procedures to be used received even greater emphasis in this case. The result was that the work yielded significant lessons from many different points of view. The painting was mounted on thick canvas, and a complete making good aesthetically also took place. A szerző cime/Author’s address: Görbe Katalin Festőrestaurátor művész DLA/Painting conservator DLA Magyar Képzőművészeti Egyetem, Restaurátor Tanszék 1062 Budapest, Andrássy út 69—71. Tel.: +36-1-342-1738 e-mail: gorbe.katalin@mke.hu 60
