Studying and Conserving Paintings Occasional Papers on the Samuel H. Kress Collection Studying and Conserving Paintings Occasional Papers on the Samuel H. Kress Collection in association with The Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University A private university in the public service Archetype Publications Ltd. 6 Fitzroy Square London w1t 5hj www.archetype.co.uk tel: 44(207) 380 0800 fax: 44(207) 380 0500 in association with The Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University New York, New York isbn 1-904982-06-9 ©2006 Archetype Publications Ltd., The Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, and the authors Design, typography, and production by Gail A. Cimino Color separations and printing in the U.S.A. by Thames Printing, Norwich, Connecticut On the cover: detail of View of the Molo, Canaletto, ca. 1725. Oil on canvas, 26 1/2 × 32 3/4 in. (67.3 × 83.2 cm). Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina, Samuel H. Kress Collection (cma 1954.44). The identification of the medium throughout this volume in some cases is conjectural, based on its visual characteristics and published analyses of other works by the artist. iv Mario Modestini ca. 1950 treating Hagar and the Angel by Bernardo Strozzi, today found in the Kress Collection at the Seattle Art Museum. Mr. Modestini’s decades of service to the Kress Collection and his vast knowledge have inspired us all. v Contents Overview 3 The Samuel H. Kress Collection: Conservation and Context Marilyn Perry 7 The Samuel H. Kress Program in Paintings Conservation at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University Margaret Holben Ellis 11 Introduction to the Volume Michele Marincola 15 Acknowledgements Michele Marincola Historical Papers 19 Philosophies and Tastes in Nineteenth-Century Paintings Conservation Wendy Partridge 31 Stephen Pichetto, Conservator of the Kress Collection, 1927–1949 Ann Hoenigswald 43 Mario Modestini, Conservator of the Kress Collection, 1949–1961 Dianne Dwyer Modestini with Mario Modestini Technical Studies & Treatment 65 A New Leaf: Recent Technical Discoveries in the Goodhart Ducciesque Master’s Madonna and Child with Four Saints Jennifer Sherman 79 Botticelli’s Nativity Charles R. Mack 95 The Re-use of a Desco da Parto Mika Okawa & Dianne Dwyer Modestini vi 99 The Triumphs of Petrarch: An Analysis of a Renaissance Decorative Cycle Wendy Partridge 113 A Portable Triptych in El Paso Dianne Dwyer Modestini 129 Guidoccio Cozzarelli’s Scenes from the Life of theVirgin Dianne Dwyer Modestini 133 School of Pietro Perugino, Saint Sebastian Annette Rupprecht & Sheri Francis Shaneyfelt 145 The Master of the Manchester Madonna: Restoration, Technique, and a Context for Attribution Molly March 165 Portrait of a Lady and Techniques in the Late Paintings of Nicolaes Maes Laurent Sozzani with Christopher McGlinchey 189 View of the Molo: A Canaletto Attribution Reinstated Elise Effmann 197 Canaletto Paints the Molo from the Ponte della Paglia Katharine Baetjer 207 View of the Grand Canal with Dogana and Guardi Studio Practices Helen Spande Appendices & Index 215 Appendix i: Kress Collection Paintings Treated in the Samuel H. Kress Program in Paintings Conservation at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University 222 Appendix ii: The Distribution of the Kress Collection 225 Index vii Overview The Samuel H. Kress Collection: Conservation and Context Marilyn Perry President, Samuel H. Kress Foundation ld Master paintings survive to us as fragile remnants of former worlds, where once they served a specific purpose—to evoke religious devotion, to capture the image of a beloved face, to illustrate a moral tale on a piece of furniture—in lives and settings from which they are long removed. Centuries of changing owners and evolving uses obscure their history and dim their original luster and meaning. Eventually, they are Ovulnerable to being treasured in a kind of half-light, as lost and mysterious objects of faded beauty and mystery. To re-illuminate Old Master paintings requires the professional skills of art conservators and art historians. Painstaking conservation relieves a picture of grime and damage, recapturing the appearance the artist intended and often explaining the means by which it was achieved. Painstaking historical research reveals elements of the identity of the work of art, including why and where it was painted, by whom and for whom, how it was viewed by its first audience. Together, the conservator and the historian craft what might be called the biography of the object, bringing it out of the shadows and into the realm of understanding where its uniqueness can touch our lives. The papers in this book record these processes, with an emphasis on the elements of discovery that accompany paintings conservation. They are pub- lished to share these discoveries, and to mark the first decade of the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation, a program of advanced training in Old Masters conservation sponsored by the Kress Foundation at the Conservation Marilyn Perry 3 Center of the Institute of Fine Arts of New York photography, publications, and conferences that University. All of the paintings discussed in this sustain careers dedicated to European art.3 volume are today enfolded in the Samuel H. Kress These constituencies often converge, as in Collection, and have, in effect, arrived at the end the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation, of their historical wanderings as part of the where the dual purpose has been to support the permanent holdings of one of the eighteen Kress advanced training of talented paintings conser- Regional Collections. They are selected for pres- vators and to provide appropriate conservation entation on the basis of interest for the serious treatment for Old Master paintings in the Kress student of the field, from more than 100 paintings Regional Collections. Selected works of art are in the Kress Collection that have thus far been shipped to the Conservation Center (shipping, treated through the program. insurance, and photography are paid by the The publication is divided into two comple- museum) for conservation treatment by Kress mentary parts. The first provides a broad and Conservation Fellows under the supervision of valuable overview of historic approaches to the Dianne Dwyer Modestini, the consultative con- conservation of European paintings, including servator of the Kress Collection, and the active two papers related to the conservation history of interest of Mario Modestini, who guided the the Kress Collection, which was formed between Foundation’s conservation program in the 1950s. 1929 and 1961. The remainder of the book is For the Fellows, the opportunity to work closely devoted to information gained in the process of with experts on a significant range of European conserving specific Italian and Dutch Old Mas- paintings offers unparalleled hands-on profes- ters, a combination of scientific and humanistic sional experience. As a further component, the research that opens new avenues for understand- program maintains an inventory of the condition ing the work of art, its history, and the original of objects in the Kress Collection, insuring a context to which it belonged. All of the papers consistency of approach based on previous con- were contributed by individuals associated with servation history that is also unusual. The rigor- the Kress Program in Paintings Conservation ous nature of the training and the emphasis on during its first ten years. The book is sponsored art historical research as well as scientific testing by the Kress Foundation in celebration of these have resulted in the recovery of many beautiful achievements, and also in demonstration of the European paintings, some of which—as indicated vision that guides Kress philanthropy. in the papers that follow—have also recovered The Samuel H. Kress Foundation has focused significant elements of their history and meaning. on European art and architecture for seventy-five Which brings us full circle to the Kress Foun- years. Across the United States, museums possess dation’s larger programmatic goals. As custodians masterpieces from the vast Kress Collection— of European art, we recognize the value inherent more than 3,000 European paintings, sculptures, in comprehending as much as possible about the bronzes, drawings, and works of decorative art.1 original place and purpose for which centuries- In Europe and the Mediterranean region, the old works of art were created. Kress grants are Foundation has regularly sponsored the preser- directed, from many points of view, toward this vation of archaeological sites and architectural end, which we call The Art of Europe in Context. monuments2—i.e., the settings for which por- The papers in this volume are a signal contribu- table art was created. And since the early 1960s, tion. We salute all of the individuals who have a program of fellowships and broad support made the first decade of the Kress Program in for the essential tools of academic and scientific Paintings Conservation an enduring success. The research has underwritten the training of more paintings, the museums, the conservators, and the than 4,000 art historians, conservators, and public have all benefited. preservationists, and the archives, databases, 4 Overview Notes 1. For a history of the creation and distribution of the Kress Collection, see Marilyn Perry, “The Kress Collection” in Chiyo Ishikawa et al. (eds.), A Gift to America: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Samuel H. Kress Collection (exhib. cat.). New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994, pp. 12–39. 2. From 1929 to the mid-1980s, the Foundation sponsored the preservation of sites in Italy, Greece, Germany, France, Spain, and Ireland. In 1987, the Kress Foundation European Preservation Program was created with the World Monuments Fund to offer competitive incentive grants. To date, this program has aided more than 250 sites in 49 countries.