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Conservation of the centuries-old painting required ten years of work from the NGA's conservation team, including WUDPAC alumna Sarah Gowen Murray. From the artnet News article by Sarah Cascone:
The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, is unveiling the fruits of four years of labor on a work by Venetian Old Master Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770). The seven-foot-tall painting, titled Bacchus and Ariadne (circa
1743–45), required extensive restoration, which uncovered previously
hidden details: an architectural border framing the scene and tall
bundles of leaves the artist originally depicted wrapped in gold-leaf
ribbon.
Teaming up with the museum’s curatorial, conservation, and
scientific research staff, painting conservator Sarah Gowen Murray
worked tirelessly to restore these lost elements and to repair the
extensive damage suffered by the canvas over the centuries. “Before it
was treated, it was apparent that it had been heavily over-painted, and
it was not representative of Tiepolo’s work,” she told artnet News. “The
restoration is much more in line with Tiepolo’s original intention for
the work.”
The painting is thought to be one of four works representing
the four elements created by the artist for an unknown Venetian
palazzo. It has not been publicly exhibited since 1981.
“The paintings would have been installed in a villa, and the
architecture that’s in the painting would have integrated the piece
within the architectural setting of the building,” Gowan Murray said.
“When the painting was removed, those architectural elements didn’t
really compositionally make sense anymore, so somebody decided to paint
them out.”
To learn more about the painting and treatment, visit the artnet News site
here.