TV: 8/31 - Restoring Holbein's "The Ambassadors"
Charles Eicher
finished watching a wonderful documentary on BBC-America channel, entitled
"Restoring The Ambassadors." It is set to replay at 10AM and 3PM central time,
so RUSH to the TV and try to catch it, if you have a chance.
The show details the recent 3-year restoration efforts on Holbein's masterpiece.
Amongst the fascinating details in the program, were some insights into the
mysterious anamorphic skull. I had always been dissatisfied with the skull, when
viewed from the correct angle, it doesn't quite work, the anatomy of the nose
aperature is all wrong. And now it is proven that the "bad" parts of the skull
were restoration work, Holbein's original paint was lost. Scientists used 3D
computer models of a real skull to aid in a proper design of the infill. The
infill painting is being done in acrylic, with a special removable medium, for
the benefit of future restorers. And the final result is excellent, the horribly
restored area near the nose of the skull works perfectly in the new restoration.
Additionally, the curator asserted that portrait paintings of that period often
showed people holding a skull, or resting their arm or hand on one. But what
surprised me was her announcement that sometimes, paintings would have a skull
painted on the BACK of the canvas, the skull would be completely hidden. And she
associated the "hidden" anamorphic skull with these hidden skulls on the obverse
of these other paintings. Quite interesting.
Well anyway, I always get a feeling like my heart is about to leap from my
chest, whenever I see restorers taking a scalpel to the surface of a
masterpiece, with only a twitch of the finger standing between restoration and
destruction. The documentary is full of these wonderful details of the perilous
process of restoration. Don't miss it. Put a tape in the VCR!
Kay
like this. Appreciate it! <running to the tv set with a blank tape>
Kay
Charles Eicher wrote in message <7qgckp$1b...@edrn.newsguy.com>...
:This is a bit late notice, but I am up early in the morning and have just
:
John Haber
to my eye at all sorts of funny angles, trying to see the skull come
out looking normal.
j
Alison A Raimes
<jha...@haberarts.com> writes
>That's cool. I'd tried holding the book page with a reproduction up
>to my eye at all sorts of funny angles, trying to see the skull come
>out looking normal.
>
>j
>
to see it twice since it was restored. Might be worth a trip ;-)
Alison
ali...@raimes.demon.co.uk
http://www.raimes.demon.co.uk (new work updated 1st Sept)
Charles Eicher
>
>That's cool. I'd tried holding the book page with a reproduction up
>to my eye at all sorts of funny angles, trying to see the skull come
>out looking normal.
well, the anamorphic projection was OK, the general shape was OK, and it would
definitely look like a skull when viewed from the proper angle. Its just that a
restorer screwed up when he repainted the missing bit around the nose and the
left side of the skull. It looked like there were two flat planes protruding
from the nose, instead of a rounded triangular aperature. I never knew this
wasn't original, and it always stood out as the clumsiest part of the painting.
I could hardly believe that Holbein was so clumsy in just this one passage. But
now they fixed it. I'm dying to see it firsthand, or at least, see a good
reproduction.
John Haber
to be sure to catch it! :)
Charles Eicher
>
>Charles, I'm imagining people lying on the floor face up in a museum
>to be sure to catch it! :)
ha.. At first I heard that it was viewed from underneath, but it is definitely
viewed from the upper right.
I had read some speculation that the Holbein was originally designed to hang in
a stairwell, you'd see the skull from a specific spot as you descended the
staircase. That fits with the anamorphic projection techniques of the day. There
were many architectural settings with anamorphic paintings that "snapped into
view" as you hit a certain spot. Sometimes the spot would be marked on the
floor.