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Issue 2

2007 Worksites

NEWS > 2007 Worksites 942
Medieval Values Discovered at the Assumption Church

Cepari Village, Argeş, Romania (1752)
by Mihail Gabriel Bîrhală

Worksite supervision: Mihail Gabriel Bîrhală, Specialist Restorer
Period: 2006 - 2007

The conservation works of the mural paintings from the church of Cepari Village brought to light the existence of a valuable ensemble of Romanian medieval paintings from 1752.
The discovered frescoes were entirely covered by oil paintings executed between 1889 and 1890. Unexpected evidences of older painting beneath the new one were found during the preliminary research performed for the submission of the conservation project. Several stratigraphic exams and successive cleaning tests were carried out in the narthex on the paintings from the dome, the arches, the pendentives and the vertical walls. It was proceeded with maximum care, taking advantage of all detachments and lacunas of the oil paint layer. The results showed that there were well preserved frescoes beneath the entire surface, the new layer of painting being applied directly or over a very thin and strong intermediary layer of chalk and linseed oil.
Two conservation projects were submitted to approval: one regarding the preservation of the present oil paintings and the other proposing to reveal the old painting through the removal of the new one. This last was approved by the Minister of Culture due to for the remarkable value of the original paintings and the opportunity to recover them. The actual intervention on the original paintings was as less intrusive as possible due to the well preserved state of preservation and mainly in respect for the preservation of the original matter. During the cleaning of the painting in the narthex, major lacunas of the support in the inferior register and at the north-west and northeast pendentives were observed, but after completing the intervention around 90% of the original painting was recovered. It is expected to meet the same situation in the rest of the church.
Unfortunately at this point the works are stopped due to major structural problems that require immediate solution. These paintings are unique, having being made by village painters with no academic education but with a native talent and skills. Cepari’s discovered paintings can be discussed about at large, from both professional and personal point of view. Cepari is now a point of interest for those specialised in conservation-restoration or art history and a controversial event for its inhabitants, those village people and their capability of acceptance of the message that this work of art transmits.

Short History

MihaiBarhala_1

In the north-west side of Argeş County, on the Topolog Valley, Cepari Village can be found. The church from Cepari was erected between 1751 and 1752 by jupân Ştefan Balotă. Nave shaped, the church is built of brick masonry, consisting of the altar, the nave and the narthex. A later inscription located at the church’s entrance says that on the occasion of the restoration works in 1888 an exonarthex was added and the church was entirely repainted. The original painting was made in a fresco technique, on a intonaco support (lime with addition of fine sand and hemp). The 1888’s intervention consisted in a new layer of oil painting applied directly over the frescoes or over a thin separation layer.

Whereas the ulterior layers provoked physical-chemical deterioration of the original paintings, they also protect it against other degradation factors. In consequence a fairly good preservation state was observed.
During the conservation works started in 2005, the church environment was monitored and the presence of high, abnormal content of moisture in the interior walls was identified in all church’s compartments. It was proceeded to the removal of the cement repairs which obstructed the exclusion of capillarity moisture from the walls. The small size lacunas were filled with mortar and chromatically retouched.
Areas where the painting and the original support were not preserved were filled below the surface’s level with coloured mortars.

During the intervention - different stages of the cleaning process.