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Conservation of the Mural Paintings
from the Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel – “Mantuleasa”
by Simona Patrascu and Anca Nicolaescu Worksite supervision: Simona Patrascu and Anca Nicolaescu, specialist conservator-restorers Period: since October 2007 It is not very common to find in the middle of a tourist capital such as Bucharest a historic monument in such advanced state of decay as the Mantuleasa church. However, this was the situation that the church faced until very recently. Out of sight between high modern buildings, it seems that all this time Mantuleasa draw back from the traffic of the city centre, remaining somehow isolated from the consideration that it is worthy of. Fortunately for the monument an on-site conservation project was started by Restauro Art Grup and continues at the moment under the coordination of Simona Patrascu and Anca Nicolaescu, conservator-restorers of mural paintings. Brancovenesc1 monument, Mantuleasa church is a reference for the Romanian art from the early 18th century. According to the portal lettering, the church was erected in 1733, by Mariia, the sister of Boyar Manta and by Stanca, his wife. The monument is characterised by equilibrated form and shape, refined by sculpted decoration and painted ornaments, such as vegetal motifs and stylised crosses. Simple and elegant in a basic chromatic scale (red, black and ochre), the ornaments embellish the church tower, the porch columns and arches. Unfortunately, time left several traces over the monument such as environmental factors, earthquakes and the parishioners’ needs. Thus, several inevitable repairs and modifications took place since its erection until 1924 when a first written testimony concerning a conservation intervention is mentioned in the archives. The most important modification was the enlargement of the interior space of the church, by the extinction of the wall between the narthex and the nave, meant to divide members from different social classes. Suppressing the wall, however, had major negative effects on the stability of the entire architectural ensemble. Another unfortunate intervention was the oil repainting of the interior murals, with the exception of the porch vaulting. Still, the 1924 project recovered as much as possible from the original aspect of the church, both at the level of architectural components and wall paintings. The restoration of the paintings focused on removing the oil repainting and cleaning the original and was performed by Paul Molda, conservator-restorer. The procedure used on that time to remove oil repaintings was not appropriate in regard to the conservation principles, using rich lime and sodium bicarbonate, soda provoking more damage to the original painting, such as exfoliation, powdering and salt efflorescence. After the earthquake from 1940, the severe damages required a new intervention, this time however, one destructive by its own nature: the tower were rebuilt using reinforced concrete, the masonry was remade of rich lime, the bricks were darned with cement, the ensemble was consolidated with coupling bars, the interior painting was washed and replenished and the facades were remade together with the ornaments and the exterior painting. What we see today on the painting is the result of the damages made by these several factors, from candle smoke to previous actions in the spirit of restoration. The painting, however, is still an 18th century reference, with its simplified chromatic harmonies, made up by blue (charcoal black and lime), green (clay pigmented with iron hydroxide) and red (clay with anhydrous iron oxide). Both the architecture and the mural painting of high quality require a rigorous approach to the undergoing conservation intervention. The project is structured according to the priorities and among its aims, it proposes: - The conservation of the exterior painted decoration and the renewal of the plaster and the architectonic profiles. At the moment, all the facades were plastered except the tower profiles from under the cornice and the medial belt which still presents painted ornaments. From this reason, they are now in an advanced, unaesthetic state of decay. The intervention in these areas will be executed by construction specialists supervised by the conservators’ team. The final aim of this intervention is to regain the artistic configuration of the monument; - Emergency intervention to protect the areas where consolidation works are already undergoing, both on the inside and outside of the church; - Assistance for the structure consolidation works; - The conservation of the interior mural paintings. The conservation project proposal was made after a preliminary thorough in situ research. Thus, several stratigraphic tests were carried on to establish the painting stratigraphy, tests for the removal of the adherent deposits and improper anterior repairs. After in situ sampling of the support, salt crystallisations, anterior intervention mortars and paint layer, the research laboratory provided data regarding the nature of these materials which helped to the establishment of the appropriate intervention methodology. At the present time, the consolidation of the structure was finished, based on the good cooperation between our conservator’s team and the constructors. The areas to be consolidated by injection were previously prepared by the conservators. Initially, the damages were hard to evaluate due to the thick layer of dirt that covered the entire surface. During the preliminary operations for the emergency intervention, the previous repairs were removed, fact that facilitated the evaluation of the monument’s stability and unity. Thereby, measures were taken for a safe emergency intervention: scaffoldings to sustain the arches, especially the triumphal arch in the central nave and the north and south arches from the narthex, which presented severe cracks and strong detachments of the masonry. As an emergency conservation operation, the degradation of the painted surface has also been stopped, by the consolidation and reattachment of the pulverulent colour layer on extended areas. This operation was performed by treating differentially the multiple types of detachments of the surface, this selective treatment up to each degradation type having accomplished the adherence of the colour layer to the support.
Images from left to right: Mantuleasa Church; Portal inscriptions; Nathex to central nave, during the conservation; Porch north vaulting, actual conservation state; Conservation intervention: chromatic integration of the colour.
Presently, a new stage is undergoing, that of the aesthetical presentation of the lacunas: large areas are to be treated archaeologically, using coloured mortars, small lacunas of the support and colour layer are to be chromatically integrated by tratteggio and finally, the small loses of the colour layer by velatura. Our intervention had the aim of assuring the entire ensemble a high resistance capacity, adequate for an eventual future seismic activity. By the end of the year, we expect to finalise the conservation of this monument. Once accomplished, the final results of our intervention are to be presented in a future article.
Notes:
1. Constantin Brâncoveanu (1654 – 1714) was Prince of Wallachia between 1689 and 1714. The architectural style derived from his name - the "Brâncovenesc style" - is known as a synthesis of Renaissance and Byzantine architecture.
About Restauro Art Grup
Restauro Art Grup S.R.L. was founded in 2000 by the conservators Simona Patrascu, Anca Nicolaescu and Silviu Petrescu. It is a conservation enterprise accredited by the Romanian Ministry of Culture that has run several conservation projects for important historic monuments in Romania, among which the conservation of the mural ensemble from the Surpatele Monastery (2002-2003), the mural painting conservation from the Church of Jgheaburi Monastery (2003-2004) and the conservation of the exterior murals and original renderings from Coltea Church (2006).
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