{"id":11932,"date":"2016-06-01T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T07:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artclinic.org\/?p=11932"},"modified":"2023-03-22T20:27:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T19:27:01","slug":"erasmus-also-sets-an-art-restorer-thinking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artclinic.org\/en\/erasmus-also-sets-an-art-restorer-thinking\/","title":{"rendered":"Erasmus also sets an art restorer thinking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Erasmus also sets an art restorer thinking<\/h1>\n<\/div>
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\"Unveiling<\/span><\/div><\/div>
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Earlier this year\u00a0Museum Gouda<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0presented a special exhibition on Erasmus and his intellectual legacy.\u00a0The relevant title of this exhibition was “Concedo Nulli”. Ik wijk voor niemand. A special exhibition that introduced the way of thinking of Erasmus<\/strong> to the visitors in a special way. A look-listen-talk exposition that literally set the visitors thinking and showed that even today the thought of Erasmus is utmost\u00a0relevant. This got strengthened\u00a0by lively debates on\u00a0the “Table of Erasmus” positioned in the middle of the museum.<\/p>\n

Every exhibition takes a long time for preparation. From the first idea and concept till opening of an exhibition usually takes several years. As an early contribution to this exhibition I restored a sculpture of Erasmus already four years ago now.<\/p>\n

Research showed that the sculpture is more than 450 years old. The sculpture combines a wooden statue with terracotta relief. The carrier reads the text that Erasmus was conceived in Gouda.\u00a0A claim used by the city of Gouda to present Erasmus as one of its citizens.<\/p>\n

During the restoration work both wooden panel as well as relief have been restored. First, we removed the old and discolored varnish layer that obscured the original paint layer. This emerged\u00a0the original colors again, especially at the relief showing that Erasmus had more white hair than anticipated before the restoration <\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Sculptuur<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Restauratie<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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The wooden panel was seriously damaged. The photos below show how a treatment against woodworm was applied to prevent further deterioration of the panel. All damages have been repaired and the surface dirt has been removed using special cleaning-gels, following an innovative method developed by Richard Wolbers<\/a>\u00a0of Delaware University in Newark, U.S.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Restauratie<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Restauratie<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Restauratie<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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A similar effect came to surface\u00a0on the carrier. During the restoration<\/strong> of the wooden panel we had clear indications that the written text in golden letters was not the original. However photographic research didn’t bring the results we wanted, and\u00a0it remained unclear if there is another text-layer below the golden letters. For this reason, we decided not to (partially) remove this layer. \u00a0Although we were kind of sure it was a 19th century addition, the risk of removal was too much creating an ‘all or nothing” situation,<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Paneel<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>
\"Paneel<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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This clearly shows the time patina of an artwork. The head of Erasmus is not just an object from early 16th century, but has been undergoing changes all the time since then. It makes these additions part of the history of the art object. This touches an important aspect of the profession of art restorer: ethics. An art restorer always needs to comply to an ethical code during the work. Such an ethical code describes rules on the responsibility of the restorer for the art object and the relation to the client.<\/p>\n

An art restorer always needs to respect and maintain the intentions of the artist as much as possible. This can give dilemmas like in the example above. We could have decided to restore the original text. Considering the risks mentioned we decided not to do. Ethics also require both art restorer as well as client (in this case\u00a0Museum Gouda) to respect the history of the object and not only pursue\u00a0the authentic state of an object.\u00a0Erasmus also sets an art restorer thinking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In the following video, I give additional insights on this special restoration process and project:<\/p>\n<\/div>