A landscape by Schiele and a painting by Wautier will be restored thanks to TEFAF
TEFAF Maastricht 2023one of the most important fairs in the world, approaches. But TEFAF – The European Fine Art Foundation – does not only represent the great trade fair event, but also a Foundation that operates in the art market in the round. Among these is his commitment to the protection and conservation of cultural heritage, conveyed, for example, through the TEFAF Museum Restoration Fund. The annual donation, aimed at supporting museums in the conservation of their works, in 2023 is directed to the Neue Galerie New York, USA, and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA), Belgium.
Thanks to the economic help of TEFAF, Neue Galerie New York will restore City in the Green (The Old City III) (1917) by Egon Schiele (1890-1918), a work that the museum received as a gift in 2006. Previously, the painting had appeared for 90 years in the family collection of Otto and Marguerite Manley, prominent Jewish collectors who fled Vienna in 1937, to whom the authorities granted to send the painting to the United States in 1948 on the condition that it be included in the Venice Biennale.
The composition shows thick vegetation that frames a bird’s-eye view of a medieval town (probably an imaginary interpretation of the Austrian town of Krumau, where the painter’s mother was born) characterized by colored facades and figures that enliven the streets in this image high density. Two elements make it special: the fact that it is one of the artist’s last works before he died and the inclusion of figures in a landscape painting. TEFAF’s financial contribution is aimed precisely at investigating this last aspect, which is unusual for Schiele. As well as to stabilize the surface of the painting.
The Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp will use financial support from TEFAF to restore Two girls like Sante Agnese and Dorotea (ca.1650) by Michaelina Wautier (1604–1689), a work which the gallery has held since 1910.
The portrait demonstrates Wautier’s refusal to limit himself to the domestic subjects that female artists were forced to study. Intent on caressing a lamb, the blonde girl plays the part of Saint Agnes, while the other is Saint Dorothy, who places roses around a basket of apples and holds a palm of her martyrdom in one hand.
The restoration, the second to affect the work, will focus on the deformed areas and dents on the surface of the painting, as well as on the burns and yellowing that has occurred in recent years. The conservation process will include a preliminary investigation and documentation of some measures such as, for example, consolidation of paint layers, dedusting and cleaning of the surface, structural treatment, filling and retouching.