replacement of damaged sculptures and stained-glass windows

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81. Italie, Trévise, Sala dei Trecento: vue d’en- semble après les dégâts. 81. Italy, Treviso, Sala dei Trecento: general view after damage. 82.. Italie, Trévise, Sala dei Trecento : les Ctaiements provisoires. . 82. Italy, Treviso, Sala dei Trecento: provisional stays. 64 National IIvIuseum at Naples, it was con- sidered much better to exhibit them near the temples at Paestum -in surround- ings, that is to say, that would enable the visitor to grasp, instantaneously, the life of a whole civilization in one of its ori- ginal settings. (Translated from Italian.) REPLACEMENT OF DAMAGED SCULPTURES AND STAINED-GLASS WINDOW§ Sculpture, stained-glass windows and mural paintings in a building are often so designed as to form a single unit, which it is only right to preserve as far as possible; this suggests that unity must be the guiding principle in all restoration work. Architectural restoration is thus closely linked, not only with sculptural or pictorial restoration, but also with the work of the modern sculptor or painter who may be called upon to replace an old work of art by a new one. Indeed, for the sake of posterity, it may be necessary to transfer a more or less damaged statue to a museum and replace it by another, representing the same subject, but differing by reason ofits modern sculpturalfeatures. In France, for instance, the great wealth of sculpture in the Roman and Gothic cathedrals, and its exposure to a fairly rigorous climate and to what is known as the “disease of stones” have often necessitated the repair or even complete replacement of many statues. In the time of Viollet-le-Duc, when it was desired to decorate the restored fasade of a church with statues, the old statues of churches in the same district and of the same period were copied, care being taken to entrust this work to skilled artisans rather than to sculptors gifted with an original style, so as to avoid anything with a distinctive character of its own being inserted into the old setting. Nowadays, on the other hand, with our more advanced critical standards, we are inclined to do precisely the opposite. Just as, if we have to repair a piece of masonry, we seek to distinguish the new part from the old while aiming at general unity, so, with the object of avoiding an “old-and-new effect”, we refuse to place a modern imitation in an old tympanum or niche. It must not however be supposed that this criterion is accepted on all hands; and there is an undesirable tendency to compromise, which is fairly common in commissions that have to decide what course to follow. In other words, while the need of adopting something expressive of our own time is generally recognized, it is often decided to take a middle course and adopt a solution that is devoid of any definite character and often, indeed, frankly bad. This attitude stems from the traditional distrust of what is new, and from the fear that a modern artist would be too hampered by restrictions as to subject, proportions, setting, materials and so forth. These however are all factors that the artist must always bear in mind when creating anything that is not merely designed to be placed temporarily in an exhibition. Moreover, aversion from what is the expression of our time only serves to widen the gulf between modern figurative art and the practical world in which they should harmoniously take their place. A striking example of this is the sculptured group of the coronation of the Virgin on the fasade of Rheims Cathedral ( g . &), a piece of work that has been much damaged and repeatedly restored and is now in danger of falling to pieces. A copy of it was made in 1941 and it is considered that radical steps must be taken without delay to preserve what is left of the original work. Three different proposals have been made to this end. The first.was that the

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Page 1: REPLACEMENT OF DAMAGED SCULPTURES AND STAINED-GLASS WINDOWS

81. Italie, Trévise, Sala dei Trecento: vue d’en- semble après les dégâts. 81. Italy, Treviso, Sala dei Trecento: general view after damage.

82.. Italie, Trévise, Sala dei Trecento : les Ctaiements provisoires.

. 82. Italy, Treviso, Sala dei Trecento: provisional stays.

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National IIvIuseum at Naples, it was con- sidered much better to exhibit them near the temples at Paestum -in surround- ings, that is to say, that would enable the visitor to grasp, instantaneously, the life of a whole civilization in one of its ori- ginal settings. (Translated from Italian.)

REPLACEMENT OF DAMAGED SCULPTURES AND STAINED-GLASS WINDOW§

Sculpture, stained-glass windows and mural paintings in a building are often so designed as to form a single unit, which it is only right to preserve as far as possible; this suggests that unity must

be the guiding principle in all restoration work. Architectural restoration is thus closely linked, not only with sculptural or pictorial restoration, but also with the work of the modern sculptor or painter who may be called upon to replace an old work of art by a new one. Indeed, for the sake of posterity, it may be necessary to transfer a more or less damaged statue to a museum and replace it by another, representing the same subject, but differing by reason ofits modern sculptural features. In France, for instance, the great wealth of sculpture in the Roman and Gothic cathedrals, and its exposure to a fairly rigorous climate and to what is known as the “disease of stones” have often necessitated the repair or even complete replacement of many statues. In the time of Viollet-le-Duc, when it was desired to decorate the restored fasade of a church with statues, the old statues of churches in the same district and of the same period were copied, care being taken to entrust this work to skilled artisans rather than to sculptors gifted with an original style, so as to avoid anything with a distinctive character of its own being inserted into the old setting.

Nowadays, on the other hand, with our more advanced critical standards, we are inclined to do precisely the opposite. Just as, if we have to repair a piece of masonry, we seek to distinguish the new part from the old while aiming at general unity, so, with the object of avoiding an “old-and-new effect”, we refuse to place a modern imitation in an old tympanum or niche.

It must not however be supposed that this criterion is accepted on all hands; and there is an undesirable tendency to compromise, which is fairly common in commissions that have to decide what course to follow. In other words, while the need of adopting something expressive of our own time is generally recognized, it is often decided to take a middle course and adopt a solution that is devoid of any definite character and often, indeed, frankly bad. This attitude stems from the traditional distrust of what is new, and from the fear that a modern artist would be too hampered by restrictions as to subject, proportions, setting, materials and so forth. These however are all factors that the artist must always bear in mind when creating anything that is not merely designed to be placed temporarily in an exhibition. Moreover, aversion from what is the expression of our time only serves to widen the gulf between modern figurative art and the practical world in which they should harmoniously take their place.

A striking example of this is the sculptured group of the coronation of the Virgin on the fasade of Rheims Cathedral (’g. &), a piece of work that has been much damaged and repeatedly restored and is now in danger of falling to pieces. A copy of it was made in 1941 and it is considered that radical steps must be taken without delay to preserve what is left of the original work.

Three different proposals have been made to this end. The first.was that the

Page 2: REPLACEMENT OF DAMAGED SCULPTURES AND STAINED-GLASS WINDOWS

group (now fragmentary) should be replaced by a replica in artifical or ‘‘recon- stituted” stone, but this would not have fully invested the group with the represent- ative function that the original, owing to its very damaged state; had lost. The second proposal was to replace what was left by a modern group, cxecuted on the same scale and with the same number of figures. The third to reproduce integrally, by means of mechanical copying, all the surviving parts of the group, adding those that were missing. So far, none of these solutions has been adopted, but it is thought that the third meets with the greatest measure of approval as constituting a prudent middle course of not too radical a nature. It seems to us, however, that this solution should be definitely ruled out, as it aims at inserting among the original fragments new pieces which can never be more than a plastic approximation-not a creative work of art-and can thus never recapture the original whole, which will be irrepar- ably lost. Recognizing all attempts at completion as a mistake, we should regard the second solution as undoubtedly the most acceptable, because, while the original remains, otherwise doomed to disappear, would be preserved in a museum, reliance would be placed in the possibility of achieving a new sculptured unit free from servile imitation or vague approximation

Good examples of replacement, on the lines indicated above, are the modern sculptures in the town hall of Kampen, in the Netherlands (j’îgs. 47,4¿’, 49, JO). In I y 3 5 or thereabouts six old statues, now kept in a museum, were replaced by six modern ones executed on the same scale and representing the same subjects, but with an entirely different sense of light and shade-the characteristic light and shade and the relief of the original figures in the Flemish style were replaced by a lighter, clearer and simpler design evolved by a modern sculptor, with the result that even the most unpractised eye could not possibly be misled. Furthermore, the contrast between the late-Gothic tabernacles and the new statues is a perfectly happy one, while the general effect is still what it orginally was,

A frankly modern interpretation is more successful when it is a qucstion, not of replacing an ancient work of art, but of inserting something new into an old structure for present-day devotional purposes. Thus in France, in the cathedral of Saint-Flour (Cantal), a modern statuehas beenplacedin the centralpier of the (’g. JI),

and the general effect is pleasing because, here too, modern taste had expressed itself while respecting, as to size and material, the canons of ornamentation that the building enjoins.

The problem, then, is twofold: on the one hand, highly valuable sculpture which the wear and tear of time threatens to reduce to unrecognizable fragments must be preserved and in the last resort, this can only be done by transferring it to a museum; and on the other, a vast architectural and sculptural structure must be integrally maintained, and for this purpose it may be necessary to substitute the new for the old. It is hardly necessary to add that, in this respect, each concrete case requires its own solution, though it must not for that reason cease to be in step with modern critical and historical experience.

It is the sad fact that every year many historic buildings, especially Gothic cathedrals, present us with problems of this sort, owing to their wealth in figure-

83. Italie, Trévise, Sala dei Trecento : tirants d’acier en action pour le redressement d‘un mur. 83. Italy, Treviso, Sala dei Trecento: steel tie- rods in position for straightening a wall.

84. Italie, TrCvise, Sala dei “recent0 : mur redressé, étais détachés.

84. Italy, Treviso, Sala dei Trecento : straightened wall, stays removed.

85. Italie, Trévise, Sala dei Trecento : l’opération achevée en deux heures dix minutes; le fil à plomb indique le parcours de 87 cm effectué. 85. Italy, Treviso, Sala dei Trecento : the operation was completed in two hours IO min., plumb line shows position changed by 87 cm.

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86. Italie, Padoue, église des Eremitani: la façade après les déglts. 86. Italy, Padua, Church of the Eremitani : damaged façade.

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sculpture. In Italy, for instance, many statues by Giovanni Pisano have had to be transferred from the façade of Siena Cathedral to a museum of the monument without being replaced on the façade; and others will be taken down and placed under cover, while the fasade of the cathedral will gradually lose its original aspect.

Apart from structural problems there are some interesting examples of the replacement of old stained-glass windows. In Poitiers Cathedral a solution similar to that we have preferred for the Rheims Cathedral group has been adopted. Valuable xwth century stained-glass windows were to some extent sacrificed for xvmth century style, lower panes being replaced with plain glass, as the Chapter did not consider they let in enough light. A master glazier has now completed the Gothic windows, continuing the story illustrated in the upper half with the same polygonal panes and with the proportions of the original figures, but with a sense of composition that achieves an original effect while harmonizing its colour-values with those of the whole (jg. jz). (Translated from Italìata.)

PRINCIPLES OF RESTORATION , OF HISTORIC MONUMENTS

Present studies on the restoration of monuments are unanimous in their con- demnation of the methods advocated by Viollet-le-Duc and followed by his successors until the turn of the century. But such a judgement is unfair and rather superficial and we are bound in all critical impartiality to admit that Viollet-le-Duc, in suggesting an historic interpretation of monuments and laying down methods for their restoration, paved the way for critical treatment of a subject which, until the middle of the xIxth century, had been at the mercy of commercial dealings or the whims of the dilettante. It was he who discovered the importance of Gothic architecture and sculpture in France, and who showed how representative they were of the French genius. He found support for his work in the political and

87. Italie, Padoue, %lise des Eremitani : pan de mur en surplomb et mur déjà redressé, vus de l'intérieur de l'édifïce. 87. Italy, Padua, Church of the Eremitani : interior view of a wall showing angle of displacement, and wall already straightened.

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literary trends of his day, which are largely responsible for the tremendous author- ity and influence of his theories until their disastrous consequences brought about the inevitable reaction.

The terrible damage which mediaeval architecture and sculpture suffered during the Revolution, with its reverence for classicism, provided ample scope for restoration, based on a recognition of the country's traditional values and respect for religious sentiments. However, from the point of view of conservation, it may be stated that the losses caused by these arbitrary restorations were no less serious