engleski

Recovery of a War-Damaged Painting “Our Lady of the Rosary“ from Vrlika

The restoration of the cultural heritage with dramatic losses – whether they are the results of a natural processes or a human action – is a subject increasingly discussed between conservators and art historians nowadays. The approaches in formulating general guidelines involve many different aspects to be considered ranging from technical and sociological to philosophical and psychological points of view. Although considerable research has been devoted to architectural and archaeological heritage, rather less observation has been paid to recovery of visual arts. This study is related to the major recovery project of a 18th century oil painting on canvas depicting "Our Lady of the Rosary" which is celebrated as the patron saint of the parish community of Vrlika and its surroundings. During the Croatian War of Independence in 1992 the painting was taken off the main altar and vandalized. The central part of the composition, including almost the complete figures of Virgin Marry and the Child, was cut-out and taken away by the paramilitary units. This deliberate destruction by a human hand terminated a century long tradition of annual feasts in Vrlika in which the painting was publicly displayed and carried by the townsmen. Based on the cross referencing available visual materials ; a high resolution old black and white photograph and the low resolution coloured photograph, the computer colorization algorithm, and also relying on the non-invasive technical analyses of the original paint layer, a major reconstruction was carried out in 2017. This one-year project was initiated and sponsored by a group of Franciscans from Vrlika with the primary intent of re-establishing the feast of "Our Lady of the Rosary" and customs of her popular cult. In addition to details of technical execution and challenges related to this sort of intervention, a particular interest in the opposing views of the authenticity and the social value of the artwork is given. It can be concluded that the recovery of the artworks with dramatic losses is an extremely complex social phenomenon that is difficult to characterize by any general factor or through any general approach.

War-damaged art ; Dramatic losses ; Reconstruction ; Cult image ; Social value ; Authenticity

nije evidentirano