The Chancel of the Santa Maria de Belém Church in the Jerónimos Monastery, was built between 1565 and 1572, on the initiative of the widow of King João III, Queen Catherine of Austria (1507-1578), and is an important contribution to the architecture of 16th century Portugal. The Mannerist style of the Chancel makes a noticeable contrast with the Manueline style of the main aisle of the Church.

Considering that when the restauration works were carried out 428 years had already passed since these paintings were made, we can well imagine that they may have been altered from their original state not only by natural ageing but also by human intervention. The poor state of the surfaces of the paintings was evident on looking at them: they were very dirty, with large quantities of spider webs, dust, pollution, cracks, shellac, repainted parts, which hid figures and modified parts of the paintings. In some cases the varnish was very dark, reducing the quality of the painting. The surface was deformed, the original colour faded, and the outlines were lost. The artistic vision in the paintings was affected.

The same detail before, and during the final renovation phase, with the appearance of a fourth figure

The backs of the panels also were seriously damaged by dirt and pollution. They had been attacked by insects and fungus, and suffered from the droppings from the permanent presence of pigeons. The damage from all these activities got worse and worse with time, and it became necessary to institute a process of conservation and restoration work.

We know from the records that there were two previous serious attempts at conservation: in 1673/75, by the painter João Baptista Pinto da França, and in 1820, by the painter Inácio Coelho da Silva Valente. Two other recent attempts at preservation were made, in 1930/40 (according to heresay), and in the 1980's, on the occasion of the 17th European Exhibition of Art, Science, and Culture.

The multiple layers of repainting during the centuries were never removed. In order to restore and conserve the paintings (fix the original, disinfect the backing, etc.) it was necessary to remove, layer-by-layer, all that had been applied (badly) over the years.

Because of the severity of the damage, this approach was not always possible, so various scientific examination, such as stratigraphic analysis, X-ray and ultraviolet analysis etc. was necessary. Taking advantage of historical investigation, and after two years of work, it was possible to accomplish the main objective to a large degree - to return the paintings to their original state with the maximum veracity, to return them to a stable physical state, to go back to the painter's original version which had been lost, as well as restoring the rights of the public to see the work of Lorenço Salzedo.

Chancel of the Jerónimos Monastery

Cleaning and restoration of the stonework text (adapted) by Fátima Llera After the paintings of the Chancel had been cleaned, it was evident that the proper improvement of the altarpiece wouldn't be complete without cleaning and restoring the adjacent stonework. The play of light and colour of the variety of marbles and limestone of which the monument is built was not evident because of the dirt and staining, made worse by a layer of old wax polish. The darkening of the local Estremoz marbles (pinks, whites, and greys) and the Sintra limestone (golden yellow and red) made it impossible to see the typical Mannerist spaces, where these are highlighted by cornices and mouldings. The cleaning and treatment of the surfaces was necessary to re-establish the colour integrity of these elements of the design by removing any materials, which physically and aesthetically affected the works.

The ceiling of the Chancel appears to have a curious design in the ornamentation of the ceiling, which emphasizes the depth of the surrounding, gilded moulded edges. Formerly, during an earlier attempt at restoration and probably because of extensive gaps in the gilded surfaces, restoring the mouldings, using Portland cement as a replacement for the gold, altered the appearance of the ceiling. In the last work, these squared divisions in the surface made with grey cement were replaced by gilded mouldings that re-establish visually the space and depth of the design. In order to avoid the visual interruptions to the design and to give detail to the monolithic and imposing quality of the construction, it was considered necessary to remove all the patches of cement, which gave an incorrect chromatic effect to the composition. The solution was to replace these surface fillers with traditional mixtures adapted to the tonality of the marble, so that they cannot be easily seen. We also sought to emphasize the importance of specific sculptural elements that, up to this point had been visually reduced in importance, through a treatment applied to the surfaces of the sepulchres and the Doric and Corinthian columns.

Divulgation of the restauration work of the paintings in the Chancel All the results, studies and documents of the restauration intervention of the alterpiece paintings were published, since 2000 in the Colecção Cadernos from IPPAR História e Restauro da Pintura do Retábulo-Mor do Mosteiro dos Jerónimos ALMADA, Carmen Olazabal de; FIGUEIRA, Luís Tovar Português; 1 Ed., Lisboa, 2000; Papel; 304 pags; il. cores Edição: Ippar/Soc.Agric.Valle-Flôr/Tribunal Administrativo C.Lisboa ISBN 972-8087-71-3

Colecção Cadernos

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