Education. Section about the education activities, programmes in the Lithuanian Art Museum

The Baltic Nordic Conference on Conserved and Restored Works of Art 6-9 October 1999, Taliinn, Estonia. The Conservator as Investigator. Tallinn, Conservation Centre Kanut, 2000. P. 69-72.


Plate 7. The Crucifix by an unknown Lithuanian master, the second half of the 19^th century. Wood, polychromy. The Church of Liškiava. The condition after the removal of the overpaintings.	Plate 8. The Crucifix by an unknown Lithuanian master, the second half of the 19^th century. The condition

Plate 9. Madonna and Child by an unknown German master, 17^th century. Wood, polychromy. The Church of Vilkaviškis. The condition before	Plate 10. Madonna and Child by an unknown German master, 17^th century. The condition after restoration.

Two sculptures conserved and restored in the P. Gudynas Restoration Centre, Madonna and Child and Crucifix were made by artists of different epochs. They came to the conservators considerably changed from their original design. The Crucifix dated from the second half of the 19th century. It is 160 cm in height, carved from alder-tree. A few overpainted layers were coming off or crumbled in several places. The wood was strong and not damaged by wood pests. Investigation revealed the sculpture's original decoration, the manner of overpainting and composition of the paint.

Three coats of paint were taken off from the original polychrome mechanically and using a solvent mixture. The open wood was primed and retouched. The sculpture was covered with a protective coating. The crown of thorns and the band were gilded.

The sculpture of Madonna and Child was created by an unknown German artist at the beginning of the 17th century. The sculpture was carved from a single piece of wood and is 114 cm in height. A few attributes and small fragments were missing. Almost one fourth of the polychromy had fallen off and the rest was weakly attached. The wood was damaged by pests, but was still solid. Investigation revealed that the sculpture was painted five times. The original polychromy was established.

The sculpture was disinfected. The wood and polychrome were strengthened and the overpainting was removed. The missing fragments were carved. The wood was primed and retouched with watercolours and gold and silver leaf. The sculpture was covered with a protective coating. A full reconstuction of the sculpture's paint layer was made, carefully saving authentic polychrome pieces. This decision was made because of the request of the Head of the Church.]

The artists of ancient times used to be both creators and masters of their craft. Their apprentices used to learn the craft first and only having mastered it, the most talented of them began creating themselves. While learning at the master's workshop and working together, the apprentices would become acquainted with the whole process of creation, the properties of materials used, the secrets of the craft and often becoming well known masters. Thus during the Renaissance the same painter often painted the walls of a church, polychromed sculptures and decorated altars.

Wooden sculptures have been decorated from their beginnings: polychromed, gilded and silvered. During the Gothic and Baroque periods great attention was given to this matter and these works were commissioned to the best artist.

With the change of epochs and style the character of the decoration changed too. The predominating taste for beauty during the classicism period could not compromise with the cheerful colourfulness of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. A one-colour decoration, imitating light stone became fashionable. New sculptures were decorated in such way and the surviving older ones were overpainted, adapting them to the whole of new interior.

This occurred in Lithuania as well. Already during the Renaissance epoch Lithuania was not a remote European province. Only later complicated historical events made it one.

Plenty of surviving baroque sculptures hide their colorful polychromy under later yellowish, gray one-colour overpaintings. They can be restored after removing later overpaintings in the case when the sculpture was overpainted without removing the old original overpainting. The old polychromy together with the carving makes up the authentic whole of the artwork. If the whole old polychrome was scraped off down to the wood before repainting, it is impossible to reconstruct the paint layer. The sculpture loses the essential part of its value as the work of art of its time.

Because of temperature and moisture fluctuations, which are rather sharp in our climatic zone, the timber begins "to walk" i.e. it expands and shrinks more then the chalk glue priming and polychromy covering the sculpture. In the course of time the priming and the paint layers become loose from the support and begin to fall off.

The sculptures in churches are usually repainted not only when time partly destroys the original polychromy but fashion and taste change. They can be redecorated also after moving them into a new location and sometimes directly during ordinary repairs. While painting walls and floors, the saints' figures are also repainted so the works of art change irrecognizably and the carving plasticity dis-appears under thick layers of overpaint.

Two recently restored sculptures: Madonna and Child and Crucifix are works of different periods and by artists of different countries. They reached the restoration workshops significantly changed from their original design. They changed under the influence of objective (moisture) as well as subjective (the time period, fashion and owner's taste) factors.

Conservator Audronė Davainienė had a complicated task: to return the authentic appearance to the sculpture of Crucifix from the church of Liškiava. Unfortunately, the present owners could not say anything about the sculpture's origin and history. The art historians dated it from the middle of the 19th century and this was later confirmed during the analyses of the paint layers. It could also be the work of a local artist. The Crucifix is of 160 cm in height, carved from alder-tree. The head of Christ is surrounded with a rather massive thorn crown. The perizone on the right hip is tied up in fanciful and pretentious knots. The arms are carved separately. After having been broken they were fastened with nails, which are now very rusty. Cavities formed because of wood deformation and were filled with a cement mass, which was the material found by a careless master. It could be seen that the sculpture had been overpainted several times. The paint layers in many places together with the ground were loose and had dropped off in places. The front of the figure's shins was scratched down to the wood. A part of the perizone's decoration was scratched, probably in an attempt seeking to remove the overpaintings. The sculpture's timber was firm and not damaged by wood pests. One lefthand finger was missing.

Samples were taken for polychrome stratigraphic and chemical research from different places. After having carried out research, the original polychromy and the character of overpaintings became clear. The white pigment zinc white of the primary paint layer was used in painting in the first half of the 19^th c. and it was widely spread in the middle of the century, replacing the toxic lead white. Thus, approximate dating was possible. The research showed that the sculpture was primed with a 0.3-0.6 mm thickness of grayish chalk- glue prime and the whole sculpture was painted light, almost white, imitating stone, which was characteristic for that period. The paint binder was oil. The thorn crown and the perizone were gilded. Thus, having made the details clear, the "white marble" sculpture became a reservedly decorative one.

The polychromy was overpainted three times. The body of Christ was overpainted with reddish oil, later white emulsion and finally lime paints. It seems, that the last paint layers, apparently, appeared while the premises' walls together with the sculpture were painted. The gilded fragments were repainted differently with green paint and with copper powder.

The later over paintings were removed after having fastened the priming and the loose polychromy. It was possible to scrape off the lime paint layer with a scalpel mechanically without any greater difficulty. The emulsion layer was washed off with a solvent mixture. The most complicated part was the removal of the oil overpainting because it was firmly bound together with the original paint layer. After having removed the over paintings, the carving 's form became more vivid, showing that the unknown sculptor had been not only a good expert at his craft but a creator as well.

The flaking areas where the priming with the polychromy had fallen off were covered with new chalk - glue ground and retouched with watercolours. The sculpture was covered with a protective coating. The original gilded layer of the thorn crown and the perizone had also been destroyed and it was necessary to regild them with little gold leaves preserving part of the old gilded surface. The regilding was carried out by restorer Ieva Čiplyte (colour plates 7 and 8).

The Madonna and Child is a sculpture from the beginning of 17th c., belonging to a master from South Germany. This sculpture was designed for an altar. It is of 114 cm in height, carved out of a single piece of wood. The backside is not modelled but hollowed out only. The Madonna and Child were originally crowned but only the Madonna's crown survived. The Madonna had a sceptre in her left hand, the Child held the terrestrial globe. Some fragments were missing as well:

the upper part of the Madonna's left sandal and the fourth and little fingers of the Child's right arm. The Madonna's crown was too massive and therefore the art historians had raised the hypothesis that it probably had not been the author's intention and the sculpture was crowned later. But the chemical analysis carried out on polychromy showed that the sculpture and the Madonna's crown were done at the same time.

The Madonna is standing upright, holding the Child in her left arm. The Child's left arm is raised for blessing, a terrestrial globe is in the Child's right arm. The globe was lost but it was not difficult to establish its size from the garment's fold. The deepening for the crowns was hollowed out on the vertices of both figures.

The sculpture's wood, though damaged by wood pests, is still rather strong, though fractured, broken off in the places such as on the left of Madonna's shoulder and the Child's right side. Apparently, seeking to protect the wood from pests, the backside was painted over with a lime mass.

A large part of the sculpture's polychromy, almost one fourth had flaked off together with he ground and the remaining layers were also not well fastened. More polychromy has survived on the front part of the coat, on the gures' tunics, the Child's face and less on the hands, the hair, the almost broken off Madonna's face and the base of the sculpture. Only a few small paint patches which had survived in the eyelid and the neck allowed one to establish the Madonna's flesh colour.

As several later paint layers were visible, 24 samples were taken for stat graphical and chemical analysis. After having carried out paint cross-section analysis, the five sculpture's overpainting stages were established. The most important achievement is that the full view of the original polychromy was restored. It had been very smart. The wood was covered with 0.1-0.4 mm thick ground of white chalk and glue that had become yellowish due to the influence of the glue.

The survived ground is in good condition. The tunics of both figures were silvered with silver leaf. In the course of time the unprotected silver had blackened. The inner side of the coat was gilded with gold leaf on red bolus. The Madonna's crown was also silvered and gilded with imitated precious stones, the colours of which were obtained by covering the silver leaf with translucent, coloured varnishes.

The original binding material for the polychromy is oil. The pigments used were lead white, cinnabar, red ochre, burnt umbra, green earth and charcoal. The flesh colour was pink, the hair was of chestnut colour, the Madonna's coat and sandals were red and the base of the sculpture was green.

As it was impossible to establish the full view of the original polychromy from the obtained results of the investigation, it was decided to restore it fully and to remove the reminants of later over painting.

The sculpture was disinfected with the antiseptic "Valaton" and kept in a disinfection chamber for a week. The pieces of polychromy, which had flaked off were glued back with rabbit skin glue. The wood damaged by pests was consolidated with polybutylmetacrylate (PBMA). After fixing of the polychrome and the consolidation of wood, the layers of over painting were removed. It was not possible to take them off from the original paint layer with solvent mixtures because the binding medium of all the paint layers was the same-oil. The over painting had to be removed from the original paint layer mechanically using a scalpel, a needle and controlling the level of cleaning under a magnifying glass. The solvents were successfully applied while removing the over painting, which were directly on the wood in the places of the lost polychromy.

After the dirt and the glue surplus were cleaned from the exposed original polychromy, the holes caused by wood pests were filled and the missing fragments were carved, the restoration of the missing polychromy started. The exposed wood was covered with a new chalk and glue ground. It was retouched with watercolours and gold and silver leaf. A full reconstruction of the sculpture's polychromy was done, saving original areas of the polychromy (colour plates 9 and 10). This decision was made according to the Head of the Church's request.