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The Thyssen presents, restored and illuminated, “The Virgin of Humility” by Fra Angelico



She is not on the throne and does not breastfeed her child. She sits on a cushion and holds the child, standing on one knee and left arm. The boy puts his cheek to his mother’s face and watches her faithfully. In her hand is a lily, a symbol of the purity of the Virgin, with a red tunic and a large blue cloak, framed by a golden background, with two angels at her feet playing a lute and a small fiddle. that it Virgin humilityAnd the One of the most important works of the Renaissance and a masterpiece by Fra Angelicopresented by the Thyssen Museum on Monday after a long restoration and will be on display until December 12, 2023 in a circular installation “inviting you to remember” which also displays the back of the painting and an explanatory video of the intervention made along with two musical instruments similar to those shown in the work.

The table, one of the finest jewels in the Thyssen collection, has only been seen three times in the Madrid Museum (in 2006, 2009 and 2021), since then. It is part of the nearly 80 works of Italian and German schools deposited since 1992 in Barcelonafirst in Pedralbes Monastery, and since 2004, in National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC)To which he will return after his exhibition in the capital. Between 1433 and 1435, Virgin humility Belonging to the beginning of the Italian artist’s mature period, it was part of the collection of King Leopold I of Belgium and, between 1909 and 1935, of the collection of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York. In 1935 it was acquired by Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, and after his death it was his daughter, Countess Margit Batthiani, who inherited it until her brother, Baron. Hans Heinrich Thyssen-BornemiszaHe bought it in 1986.

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Restoration work, funded by the Bank of America, was the result A year of work led by Susana Pérez, a member of the museum’s restoration team led by Ubaldo Sedano, where a technical study of the work and the process of identifying the materials used by Fra Angelico were carried out, as well as chemical, x-ray and infrared reflectance analysis. Works focused on cleaning the painting, removing old varnishes and dirt accumulated over the years and in which the frame was also restored, by María Jofre. A process that demonstrated the extraordinary technique of this methodical and meticulous painter, who first painted with a brush and then made incisions that served as a reference when applying layers of paint.

Thyssen Technical Director, Guillermo Solanahighlighted how this Fra Angelico work, “despite the extraordinary appearance of harmony that dominates it, is in fact a painting full of tensions: first, for our Virgin is not a Virgin enthroned, but a Virgin of humility, an iconographic type that appears at the end of the third century He was promoted by the mendicant orders of the Franciscans and Dominicans, who farmed A new religious feeling that is more natural, more emotional and closer to believers& rdquo;. Solana explained that “when this new code spreads across Quattrocento Florentines, artists will magnify the female figure and Fra Angelico will no longer sit on the grass, but on a cushion, and will frame it with a cloth of honour, making it a kind of queen of modesty & rdquor ;.

Restorer Susana Pérez explained that the restoration of the table discovered “few regrets” of the painter, such as “the change in the height of the eyes of the Virgin or the position of the angels’ wings”, but also “All-round artistThat he used the technique of the time to highlight details such as the angel’s eyelashes or that he used “extremely rich pigments such as lapis lazuli, which manage to create lighter or darker tones: if he applies them too often, the tones from the clothes are lighter, and on the other hand, in the darker areas , the pigment has much larger granules.

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The restorer also highlighted Fra Angelico’s handling of “gilding techniques, with a perfection and refinement he inherited from the Gothic style but really places in that space of Renaissance and rdquor; and he admitted that the most sensitive and difficult area to treat was the face of the Virgin, “a delicate and difficult area” , in which they had to make improvements in worn areas and cuts.Beside this difficulty, he was most satisfied with what had been achieved in ‘The Maiden’s Cloak,’ in which a large number of unexpected nuances emerged.

After this intervention, Perez noted that “at least another 40 years will pass without the need for a new restoration,” and announced that in October a concert would be held. Jordi Savall which will present a repertoire inspired by Fra Angelico and his work.

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