art history
8A
TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2012
MiamiHerald.com
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
THE MIAMI HERALD
ART HISTORY
THE MAN WITH NO FACE A CONTROVERSIAL ART RESTORATION IS UNDERTAKEN IN A 17TH CENTURY CONVENT IN QUITO BY LANCE BRASHEAR Special to the International Edition
QUITO — Though he is considered to be on par with the great European painters of the Renaissance, few people outside the art world, and outside of Ecuador, recognize the name Miguel de Santiago. And fewer still have heard of Juan Cuzco, who is causing consternation by repainting and recreating one of Santiago’s original works in the Saint Augustine Convent in Quito. Santiago’s significance in Ecuadorian art is undeniable. “Miguel de Santiago is . . . for Ecuadorians what Rafael Sanzio is for Italians,” said the late Father Jose Maria Vargas, who studied and taught about Santiago during the mid and late 20th century, in his book, Miguel de Santiago, Life and Work. Santiago’s best known works are a series of 42 paintings (they average 8.2 x 6.9 feet each), created from 16531656 to depict the life of Augustine of Hippo, founder of the Augustinian Order, and displayed in the Saint Augstine Convent. But after centuries of deterioration, the paintings were in desperate need of restoration. For the past two years a team has been giving those works a meticulous, expensive, and controversial facelift in a makeshift workshop under the convent’s atrium. Each painting requires 9 to 15 months of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore. Thus far, two paintings have been fully completed, while others are at various stages. Restoring a painting from the 17th century is challenging not merely because of its age, but also because of its complexity with multiple layers deteriorating simultaneously, some of which are re-painted interventions that occurred after the original work was completed. Using X-rays and laboratory analysis, the head of the restoration team, Rosa Torres, says her objective, wherever possible, is to remove past interventions and restore the original work. But the effort hasn’t pleased everyone. Quito art historian Ximena Escudero says that by erasing previous interventions
24PGA08.indd 8
PHOTOS BY LANCE BRASHEAR/INTERNATIONAL EDITION AND QUITO METROPOLITAN INSTITUTE OF PATRIMONY
At left, El Nacimiento del Santo by Miguel de Santiago, before restorers intervened to recreate a new face for the man in the background. At right, the proposed version of the new face. At top, the restoration team at work at the Saint Augustine Convent in Quito. the restorers are essentially criticizing the work of the past. “Before, restoration throughout the world was a recreation. We are not going to insult or criticize because this was the custom,” she said. And the restorers are not simply erasing images from the past; in the case of El Nacimiento del Santo, which depicts the birth of Saint Augustine, they are recreating a new face for the man who is seated in the background next to Saint Monica, Augustine’s mother. Why the face is missing is left to speculation; it probably existed at one time but came to be a colorless smudge in the background of what is otherwise a masterpiece. For Pablo Viteri, architect with the Quito Metropolitan Institute of Patrimony, the addition of a new face borders on hypocrisy. “To erase all of the interventions from the previous centuries . . . but [replace it] with one from the 21st century? Is that not a little contradictory?” Still the restorers defend their approach. Cuzco, the artist rendering the new image says, “Our proposal is based
on other works by Miguel de Santiago in which the characters are in a similar position.” By surveying faces in other paintings by the same author the restoration team has come up with what they think is a close approximation of the original. Even though nobody alive today has ever seen the original face Torres says their solution is “a loyal creation.” Analysis of the image of the man seated next to Saint Monica reveals little beneath it. “We have taken X-rays here,” Torres says as she points to the man. “There is no person below this one.” Torres says she does not completely discount that a face still remains somewhere lost in the layers of oil, but their tools do not allow them to see it. The restorers rely on a portable human X-ray machine that isn’t designed for this kind of work, but is all they have at their disposal. Since the imaging tests are dubious at best, according to historian Aurelia Bravomalo, a colleague of Vargas who has also written and studied colonial art, the restorers have one other option. “We have
two sources. One is the physical evidence, which is inconclusive.” The other source is “the etchings brought from Europe . . . one would have to take them to see if he put it or not [the face].” During the 16th century it was common for an artist to copy themes recorded by other painters. Miguel de Santiago often used a series of etchings from Schelte a Bolswert, a distinguished, Flemish engraver. But, Angel Justo, a member of the Department of Art History at the University of Seville and author of Miguel de Santiago en San Agustin de Quito, says The Birth was not copied from a Bolswert etching. “For its creation [Santiago] references various European etchings, based on the birth of the Virgin and John the Baptist that he interpreted with more liberty.” With the physical evidence and the etchings, the image of the original face would seem to be lost forever. However, in this case, there is a third source not usually available to restorers or investigators. In this rare instance, a reproduction of The Birth is documented as it may have
appeared in the late 19th century. The painting was photographed by French journalist Marcel Monnier in 1886-87 and then converted into an etching by French engraver Jorges Profit. In this image, a bearded man seated next to Monica can be seen. But many differences in the Profit engraving and the painting as it appears today prompts Torres to admit that evidence of the existence of a face in the 19th century still is not conclusive. “We can make various interpretations,” says Torres. “It could be that Profit, the engraver, invented [the face] . . . or it could be that at some point in time it [the face] became very damaged and somebody painted it like this.” What is certain is that the man in the painting has already begun to receive a new look. The creation of this new face is done using a technique known as “rigatino,” or vertical hatching, developed in Italy in the 1950s. The technique uses a series of vertical lines that blend with the painting at a distance but are clearly distinguishable up close. Guido Diaz, former direc-
tor of the municipal entity that helped initiate the restoration project, says that with rigatino the historical record remains clear between what is original and what is not. “In this way if you paint and in five years you decide it was wrong, you can remove it and re-paint it.” But most importantly, Diaz, like Torres, sides with the one person for whom the painting was originally created and for whom it continues to be most relevant today: the observer. The man with a face allows observers to see the work with greater appreciation, which they believe is more important than preserving merely that which is original. “If what you have is an abstract, the product of elimination of part of the original, you will probably remain unsatisfied [viewing the work],” says Diaz. Viteri offers his tacit support. “Someone has to make a decision and for the good of the painting someone has to assume the responsibility.” “The decision,” insists Torres, “belongs to the restorers,” and they have been fearless in making it.
4/24/2012 4:49:42 AM
TUESDAY, APRIL 24, 2012
MiamiHerald.com
INTERNATIONAL EDITION
THE MIAMI HERALD
ART HISTORY
THE MAN WITH NO FACE A CONTROVERSIAL ART RESTORATION IS UNDERTAKEN IN A 17TH CENTURY CONVENT IN QUITO BY LANCE BRASHEAR Special to the International Edition
QUITO — Though he is considered to be on par with the great European painters of the Renaissance, few people outside the art world, and outside of Ecuador, recognize the name Miguel de Santiago. And fewer still have heard of Juan Cuzco, who is causing consternation by repainting and recreating one of Santiago’s original works in the Saint Augustine Convent in Quito. Santiago’s significance in Ecuadorian art is undeniable. “Miguel de Santiago is . . . for Ecuadorians what Rafael Sanzio is for Italians,” said the late Father Jose Maria Vargas, who studied and taught about Santiago during the mid and late 20th century, in his book, Miguel de Santiago, Life and Work. Santiago’s best known works are a series of 42 paintings (they average 8.2 x 6.9 feet each), created from 16531656 to depict the life of Augustine of Hippo, founder of the Augustinian Order, and displayed in the Saint Augstine Convent. But after centuries of deterioration, the paintings were in desperate need of restoration. For the past two years a team has been giving those works a meticulous, expensive, and controversial facelift in a makeshift workshop under the convent’s atrium. Each painting requires 9 to 15 months of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars to restore. Thus far, two paintings have been fully completed, while others are at various stages. Restoring a painting from the 17th century is challenging not merely because of its age, but also because of its complexity with multiple layers deteriorating simultaneously, some of which are re-painted interventions that occurred after the original work was completed. Using X-rays and laboratory analysis, the head of the restoration team, Rosa Torres, says her objective, wherever possible, is to remove past interventions and restore the original work. But the effort hasn’t pleased everyone. Quito art historian Ximena Escudero says that by erasing previous interventions
24PGA08.indd 8
PHOTOS BY LANCE BRASHEAR/INTERNATIONAL EDITION AND QUITO METROPOLITAN INSTITUTE OF PATRIMONY
At left, El Nacimiento del Santo by Miguel de Santiago, before restorers intervened to recreate a new face for the man in the background. At right, the proposed version of the new face. At top, the restoration team at work at the Saint Augustine Convent in Quito. the restorers are essentially criticizing the work of the past. “Before, restoration throughout the world was a recreation. We are not going to insult or criticize because this was the custom,” she said. And the restorers are not simply erasing images from the past; in the case of El Nacimiento del Santo, which depicts the birth of Saint Augustine, they are recreating a new face for the man who is seated in the background next to Saint Monica, Augustine’s mother. Why the face is missing is left to speculation; it probably existed at one time but came to be a colorless smudge in the background of what is otherwise a masterpiece. For Pablo Viteri, architect with the Quito Metropolitan Institute of Patrimony, the addition of a new face borders on hypocrisy. “To erase all of the interventions from the previous centuries . . . but [replace it] with one from the 21st century? Is that not a little contradictory?” Still the restorers defend their approach. Cuzco, the artist rendering the new image says, “Our proposal is based
on other works by Miguel de Santiago in which the characters are in a similar position.” By surveying faces in other paintings by the same author the restoration team has come up with what they think is a close approximation of the original. Even though nobody alive today has ever seen the original face Torres says their solution is “a loyal creation.” Analysis of the image of the man seated next to Saint Monica reveals little beneath it. “We have taken X-rays here,” Torres says as she points to the man. “There is no person below this one.” Torres says she does not completely discount that a face still remains somewhere lost in the layers of oil, but their tools do not allow them to see it. The restorers rely on a portable human X-ray machine that isn’t designed for this kind of work, but is all they have at their disposal. Since the imaging tests are dubious at best, according to historian Aurelia Bravomalo, a colleague of Vargas who has also written and studied colonial art, the restorers have one other option. “We have
two sources. One is the physical evidence, which is inconclusive.” The other source is “the etchings brought from Europe . . . one would have to take them to see if he put it or not [the face].” During the 16th century it was common for an artist to copy themes recorded by other painters. Miguel de Santiago often used a series of etchings from Schelte a Bolswert, a distinguished, Flemish engraver. But, Angel Justo, a member of the Department of Art History at the University of Seville and author of Miguel de Santiago en San Agustin de Quito, says The Birth was not copied from a Bolswert etching. “For its creation [Santiago] references various European etchings, based on the birth of the Virgin and John the Baptist that he interpreted with more liberty.” With the physical evidence and the etchings, the image of the original face would seem to be lost forever. However, in this case, there is a third source not usually available to restorers or investigators. In this rare instance, a reproduction of The Birth is documented as it may have
appeared in the late 19th century. The painting was photographed by French journalist Marcel Monnier in 1886-87 and then converted into an etching by French engraver Jorges Profit. In this image, a bearded man seated next to Monica can be seen. But many differences in the Profit engraving and the painting as it appears today prompts Torres to admit that evidence of the existence of a face in the 19th century still is not conclusive. “We can make various interpretations,” says Torres. “It could be that Profit, the engraver, invented [the face] . . . or it could be that at some point in time it [the face] became very damaged and somebody painted it like this.” What is certain is that the man in the painting has already begun to receive a new look. The creation of this new face is done using a technique known as “rigatino,” or vertical hatching, developed in Italy in the 1950s. The technique uses a series of vertical lines that blend with the painting at a distance but are clearly distinguishable up close. Guido Diaz, former direc-
tor of the municipal entity that helped initiate the restoration project, says that with rigatino the historical record remains clear between what is original and what is not. “In this way if you paint and in five years you decide it was wrong, you can remove it and re-paint it.” But most importantly, Diaz, like Torres, sides with the one person for whom the painting was originally created and for whom it continues to be most relevant today: the observer. The man with a face allows observers to see the work with greater appreciation, which they believe is more important than preserving merely that which is original. “If what you have is an abstract, the product of elimination of part of the original, you will probably remain unsatisfied [viewing the work],” says Diaz. Viteri offers his tacit support. “Someone has to make a decision and for the good of the painting someone has to assume the responsibility.” “The decision,” insists Torres, “belongs to the restorers,” and they have been fearless in making it.
4/24/2012 4:49:42 AM
