The Conservation Of - Getty

The Conservation ofWall Paintings

The Conservation ofWall PaintingsProceedings of a symposiumorganized by the Courtauld Institute of Artand the Getty Conservation Institute,London, July 13-16, 1987Sharon Cather, EditorTHE GETTY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE

Cover: Masaccio and Filippino Lippi. Detail of The Raising of the Son ofTheophilus and The Chairing of Saint Peter, after conservation. BrancacciChapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence. (Photo: A. Quattrone)Note:Manufacturers' materials data and safety sheets should be consulted andany necessary precautions applied in the use of any materials referred toin this volume.Publication Coordinator: Irina Averkieff, GCIEditing: Andrea Belloli and Irina AverkieffTechnical Drawing: Janet Spehar EnriquezCover Design: Marquita Takei, Los Angeles, CaliforniaText Design: Marquita Takei and Jacki Gallagher (GCI)Typography: Adobe GaramondPrinting: Tien Wah Press, Ltd. 1991 The J. Paul Getty TrustAll rights reservedPrinted in SingaporeLibrary of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication DataThe Conservation of wall paintings: proceedings of a symposiumorganized by the Courtauld Institute of Art and the GettyConservation Institute, London, July 13-16, 1987 / Sharon Cather,editor.p.cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 0-89236-162-X (pbk.)1. Mural painting and decoration--Conservation and restoration-Congresses. I. Cather, Sharon. II. Courtauld Institute of Art.III. Getty Conservation Institute.ND2552.C64 1991751.6'2--dc20Second printing 1996.91-16526CIP

THE GETTY CONSERVATION INSTITUTEThe Getty Conservation Institute, an operating organization ofthe J. Paul Getty Trust, was created in 1982 to address the conservation needs of our cultural heritage. The Institute conductsworld-wide, interdisciplinary, professional programs in scientificresearch, training, and documentation. This is accomplishedthrough a combination of in-house projects and collaborativeventures with other organizations in the USA and abroad. Specialactivities such as field projects, international conferences, andpublications strengthen the role of the Institute.

ContentsviiiMiguel Angel CorzoForewordDavid Park and Frank PreusserPrefaceixFrank PreusserScientific and Technical Examination of the Tomb of1Queen Nefertari at ThebesOrnella Casazza andPreliminary Research for the Conservation of theSabino GiovannoniBrancacci Chapel, FlorenceKarl Ludwig DasserPretreatment Examination and Documentation:1321The Wall Paintings of Schloß Seehof, BambergClaus ArendtThe Role of the Architectural Fabric in the29Preservation of Wall PaintingsIvo HammerThe Conservation in Situ of the Romanesque43Wall Paintings of LambachFabrizio MancinelliThe Frescoes of Michelangelo on the Vault of the Sistine Chapel:57Conservation Methodology, Problems, and ResultsGianluigi ColalucciThe Frescoes of Michelangelo on the Vault of the Sistine Chapel:67Original Technique and ConservationS. B. Hanna andConservation of Central Asian Wall Painting FragmentsJ. K. Dinsmorefrom the Stein Collection in the British MuseumEric M. MoormannDestruction and Restoration of Campanian Mural Paintings7787in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth CenturiesAndreas Arnold andMonitoring Wall Paintings Affected by Soluble Salts103In Review: An Assessment of Florentine Methods of Wall Painting137Konrad ZehnderMauro MatteiniConservation Based on the Use of Mineral Treatments

ForewordThe Getty Conservation Institute has devoted particular attention to theproblems of wall paintings conservation. Collectively, wall paintings form arecord of artistic, cultural, and intellectual developments of historical significance.The wall paintings of the tomb of Nefertari, in Egypt, have been thesubject of an on-going effort for the past six years that is coming soon to a close.Projects in Dunhuang and Yungang, in China, are just now underway to systematically study the causes of deterioration in the sites and to investigate strategiesfor their long-term protection.The Courtauld Institute of Art and the Getty Conservation Institutehave been collaborating for six years in a wall painting conservation course, aunique three-year postgraduate-level training program.To facilitate an international dialogue and exchange of informationamong conservators, scientists, and historians involved in major wall paintingsconservation projects, the GCI and the Courtauld Institute of Art organized asymposium on the subject in London in 1987. This symposium was part of theGCI's ongoing efforts to promote a multidisciplinary approach to conservation,to examine issues related to conserving cultural property in situ, and to providespecialized training in conservation. By publishing the symposium's editedpapers, we hope to provide a current report on significant projects and developments underway in the field of wall paintings conservation.Miguel Angel CorzoDirectorGetty Conservation Institute

PrefaceIn recent decades there has been an increasing focus in all areas of conservation on an interdisciplinary approach. This has been especially true for wallpaintings, where indeed a number of special factors make it essential: their physical and aesthetic unity with the architecture; their particular vulnerability, inthat they constitute an extremely thin layer which is itself the interface betweenthe support and the environment; the limitations on controlling potential agentsof deterioration; and the scale and expense not only of intervention, but also ofstudy and monitoring.The symposium was planned to reflect this and was organized as part ofthe postgraduate Course in the Conservation of Wall Painting established in1985 as a joint venture of the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Getty Conservation Institute. The curriculum of the training program is based on the philosophy shared by the two sponsoring institutions that conservation should beinterdisciplinary and involve minimal intervention, requiring that causes ofdeterioration are adequately understood and monitored. There is, therefore, aconsequent emphasis on these aspects both in the training and in the contributions to the symposium.The organizers invited papers that would represent major programs ofwall painting conservation—such as the Tomb of Nefertari, the Brancacci Chapel,and the Sistine Chapel—and would address the issues of diagnosis, documentation, and monitoring, which often tend to be overshadowed by treatment results.Thus the symposium was divided into three general categories: Planning andDiagnosis, Treatment, and Monitoring. Four papers were presented on each ofthe three days, leaving a considerable amount of time for discussion led by invitedspecialists—architects, art historians, conservators, and conservation scientists.For Planning and Diagnosis the preliminary investigations carried out forthe Tomb of Nefertari (Frank Preusser) and the Brancacci Chapel (Ornella Casazzaand Sabino Giovannoni) were presented, together with the general problems of thearchitectural support (Claus Arendt) and documentation (Karl Ludwig Dasser).The session was chaired by Frank Preusser, and the discussants were Dr. Eve Borsook (Villa I Tatti, Florence), Mr. Martin Caroe (Caroe & Martin Architects, London), and Mr. Théo-Antoine Hermanès (Ateliers Crephart, Geneva).Treatment was represented by papers on Central Asian paintings in theBritish Museum (Seamus Hanna and Jennifer Dinsmore), on the Romanesquepaintings of Lambach (Ivo Hammer) and two contributions on Michelangelo'sfrescoes on the Sistine Chapel vault (Fabrizio Mancinelli and Gianluigi Colalucci).Mr. Paul Schwartzbaum (ICCROM) chaired the session, and Dr. Karl Ludwig

Dasser, Dr. Caroline Elam (The Burlington Magazine), and Dr. Lorenzo Lazzarini (University of Rome) led the discussion.The final session, devoted to Monitoring, was chaired by David Parkand included a diverse selection of papers: the effects of soluble salts (AndreasArnold); a historical survey of the discovery and early treatment of Roman paintings (Eric Moormann); an investigation into the effects of recent treatments ofwall paintings in France (Marcel Stefanaggi and Isabelle Dangas, though notincluded in the present volume); and an assessment of Florentine conservationmethods (Mauro Matteini). Dr. Claus Arendt, Mr. Théo-Antoine Hermanès,and Mr. John Mitchell (University of East Anglia) participated as discussants.Although specific aspects of individual contributions were debated,much of the discussion also focused on broad issues related to the structure,administration, and funding of conservation. There was general agreement thatthe paradigm of a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach tended to be realized only in a few select cases. Moreover, it was observed that monitoring wallpaintings after treatment—and, perhaps more importantly, as a routine surveillance practice—rarely occurs. This was seen to be due not only to the low priority and consequent lack of funding it is given, but also to the absence of adequateparameters and guidelines for such monitoring.In a few papers references to the literature published since 1987-88have been added, but in general the reader is referred to the recent comprehensive bibliography by Anna Miele Pacifici in Pitture murali: tecniche, problemi,conservazione (eds. C. Danti, M. Matteini, and A. Moles; Opificio delle PietreDure, Florence, Centro Di; 1990:329-371).We would like to thank those who have contributed both to the organization ofthe symposium and the publication of the proceedings, particularly Mrs. Martade la Torre, Training Program Director of the Getty Conservation Institute, whoproposed that the symposium be held as part of the teaching and participatedactively in the planning. Mr. Luis Monreal, former Director of the GCI, was alsoclosely involved in structuring the symposium, and Professor C. M. Kauffmann,Director of the Courtauld Institute, hosted the meeting. Sharon Cather, of theCourtauld Institute, has, of course, been involved in all phases, most especiallyin the editing of the contributions, and we owe her a considerable debt. Finally,Irina Averkieff has applied her usual high standards to the publication of the proceedings, ably assisted by Jacki Gallagher.David ParkFrank PreusserDirectorAssociate Director, ProgramsConservation of Wall Painting DepartmentGetty Conservation InstituteCourtauld Institute of Art

Frank PreusserPlate 1, above. View of the east wallof the vestibule (E) with Kheperi,Isis, and Harakhty, and into theinner chamber (G). 1987.Plate 2, right. North face of columnIII in the sarcophagus chamber (K)with Hathor and Nefertari. 1987.Plate 3, far right. The ceiling at thetop of the stairway (I). showing discoloration and damage, and gauzestrips applied during emergencytreatment. 1987.Plate 4, bottom far right. West wallof the stairway (I). Detail of Nefertari presenting offerings, showing therelief carving of the plaster. 1990.Scientific and Technical Examination of the Tombof Queen Nefertari at Thebes

Plate 5, right. West face of column IIin the sarcophagus chamber (K) withOsiris. 1991.Plate 6, top. North wall in the sarcophagus chamber (K). Detail ofdangerously detached plaster. 1986.Plate 7, above. South wall of thevestibule (E). Detail of Nefertari ledby Harsiese, showing discoloration.1987.Plate 8, bottom left. East wall ofinner chamber (G). Detail of Atum,showing extensive reintegration oflosses. 1986.Plate 9, bottom right. North wallin the sarcophagus chamber (K).Reattachment of partially detachedplaster. 1987.