Hubert von Sonnenburg; Leading Conservator of Paintings
Hyfler/Rosner
Hubert von Sonnenburg, a Leading Conservator of Paintings,
Dies at 76
By CAROL VOGEL NY Times
Hubert von Sonnenburg, one of the world's leading painting
conservators and chairman of paintings conservation at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, died on July 16. He was 76.
The cause was complications from cancer, said his wife,
Renate von Sonnenburg.
Known for conserving and cleaning some of the Met's prized
paintings, including Rembrandt's "Aristotle With a Bust of
Homer" and Velázquez's "Juan de Pareja," Dr. von Sonnenburg
was also a first-class sleuth who exposed numerous
forgeries, fakes and misattributions.
Born in Cologne, Germany, he studied art history,
archaeology and paleography at the University of Munich. In
1952 he earned a Ph.D., writing his thesis on Greek
mythology in 19th-century painting. After receiving his
degrees, he trained as a paintings restorer for four years
at the Bavarian State Galleries and worked as a research
assistant at the Doerner Institute in Munich. From 1958 to
1959 he was an assistant to John Hell, a well-known restorer
in London.
In 1959 Dr. von Sonnenburg came to New York, where he became
assistant conservator at the Met. He stayed there,
overseeing a newly created paintings conservation
department, until 1974, when he became director of the
Doerner Institute. In 1991 he was made director general of
the Bavarian State Paintings Collections, although he was
still director of the institute.
In addition to being an important research center for
conservation studies, the Doerner Institute is an
internationally known "art detective agency," providing
consulting, analysis and authentication services to the
public. As director, Dr. von Sonnenburg was involved in a
number of conservation activities, including restoring or
cleaning important paintings by Raphael, Rubens, Manet,
Velázquez, Rembrandt and Vermeer in both private and public
collections.
"When restoring a painting," he once said, "the question is
not so much which solvent and chemicals or which new
scientific methods and high-technology tools to use, but how
the picture should look. Of course that is a matter of
taste, tempered in part by the condition of the picture, but
even more, it is a matter of understanding the art and the
artist."
Dr. von Sonnenburg returned to the Met in 1991 as chairman
of the paintings conservation department. He also helped
organize several exhibitions at the museum. In 1995 he
helped organize "Rembrandt/Not Rembrandt," a show of
paintings, prints and drawings by Rembrandt, his pupils and
those who emulated his style. He was also involved that year
in "Goya in the Metropolitan Museum of Art," a chronological
display of the Met's collection of Goyas, addressing issues
like the reattribution of this Spanish master's paintings
over time.
Dr. von Sonnenburg is survived by his wife.