(Paris) Armed with a huge cotton swab, several people are busy cleaning a canvas. A few meters further, others, color palette in hand, try to correct the pangs of time: near Paris, the restoration of the 22 paintings of Notre-Dame is a “race against time”.
Posted at 11:45 a.m.
It is a construction site that has remained in the shadow of that of the cathedral, an emblematic monument of the French capital, ravaged by a fire in April 2019: the simultaneous restoration of these works, which were not damaged by the disaster and must be returned the building for its reopening in 2024, is a unique operation in its scope.
Everything takes place in a secret place.
Arrived six weeks after the 2019 fire, these canvases – 25 in total, 22 of which have been renovated – are distributed in three huge hermetic rooms, far from the image one might have of an artist’s studio.
“It’s a bit of a race against time,” restaurateur Laurence Mugniot told AFP.
“Medical History”
“Two years may seem like a long time, but that’s usually the time it takes to restore a canvas like The Triumph of Jobwhich is behind us”, she underlines, pointing out the huge work several meters high by the Italian Guido Reni, hung behind her back.
So, to meet the deadlines, we had to organize ourselves differently. The paintings pass from expert hands to expert hands, with no rest time: as soon as a stage is finished, you have to continue with another painting.
Before reaching this stage, they were carefully analyzed to establish a conservation diagnosis: “You do not touch a canvas without knowing its medical history”, underlines to AFP Oriane Lavit, heritage curator at the Center of research and restoration of the Museums of France.
Once this history is known, the paintings move on to cleaning. With a cotton swab soaked in an approved cleaning product, many restorers remove the layers of grime and varnish that parasitize the paint.
The gesture is lively but precise: wrist in the air, circular movement, they focus first on the most urgent areas. “What we want is to give it back its true nature”, explains Laurence Mugniot, who oversees the cleaning of the Triumph of Job.
In another room, from which emerges a slight smell of paint, the conservator-restorer Cinzia Pasquali is working on retouching a work. A brush in one hand, color palette in the other, she tries to fill in the wear.
2.7 million euros
Again, it’s a work of goldsmith. “We use specific colors because they are reversible colors. We don’t work with period colours,” she explains, while emphasizing that it is a team effort, where there are many discussions between restorers and curators.
Opposite her: Jean-François Hulot, “support” renovation specialist. His job is to ensure that the canvases – which date back to the 17e and 18e centuries – do not break.
Here, no hint of paint but a vague smell of glue.
The object of his attention is The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew by Frenchman Lubin Baugin. The canvas is stretched lengthwise on a table. Here, there is no risk of breakage because it is the edges that are damaged, making it difficult to handle.
Meanwhile, another team takes care of the frames. Because they too need restoration. “The heat of the fire dried and weakened the wood,” comments Jean-Pierre Galopin.
Once all these steps have been completed, the paintings are stored in a dedicated room. It takes between 8 and 10 people to move them safely. They will remain there until the reopening of the cathedral.
This project represents a cost of 2.7 million euros (3.5 million Canadian dollars). This is the largest simultaneous restoration of large format paintings in France.