Finishing touches to Murillo

Installation of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s altarpiece Virgin and Child in Glory (1673) at the Walker Art Gallery

The practical treatment of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s altarpiece Virgin and Child in Glory (1673) finished in August, marking the end of a year-long major conservation project, which you can track in my previous blog posts.

The final phase of treatment involved retouching damages and losses on the oil sketch and Virgin and Child in Glory (1673).

The dramatic history of the painting, including the cutting and removal of the central section of the Madonna and Child, meant that two pieces from the same artwork had separate histories, and thus visually aged differently.

Read more…

Revealing Murillo…treatment underway

During treatment photograph. Varnish has been removed from the left side of her face.

The practical treatment of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s altarpiece Virgin and Child in Glory (1673) has been progressing at a steady pace. My initial examinations, discussed in my last blog, involved investigating the layer of varnish on the surface of the painting…

Read more…

It begins! The conservation of Murillo’s Virgin and Child in Glory

Detail image before treatment of Virgin and Child in Glory, c. 1673

Upon viewing Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s altarpiece Virgin and Child in Glory at the Walker, I admit, I was a bit overwhelmed by the subject staring down at me. However, after it arrived in our paintings conservation studio and was removed from its brightly gilded frame, the painting was subdued yet quietly powerful.  And in need of some care and attention…
Read more…

Revealing the dramatic history behind Murillo’s iconic altarpiece

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s painted altarpiece, Virgin and Child in Glory (1673), has left the Walker Art Gallery for the first time since it was acquired in 1953.

The iconic work has travelled to our conservation studio where it will undergo major technical investigation work, funded by the Art Fund. This will be the first detailed conservation treatment to be carried out on the altarpiece since the early 1860s. Read more…