O/T Paintings Saved From Attacks Restored
PUSSSYKATT
NEW YORK (AP) - The two paintings were already hanging above the pews at St.
Paul's Chapel when George Washington was inaugurated April 30, 1789, and came
to say a prayer for American democracy.
The depictions of the New York state and national seals were still there on
Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center — a block away — came crashing
down.
Although both paintings were covered with dust from the collapse, "structurally
they are very sound. There is no paint lost," said Luca Bonetti, an art
restorer and conserver who was hired to clean them.
The paintings were commissioned by the vestry of Trinity Church in 1785.
Historians say the unknown artist probably was Dutch.
While the paintings are considered priceless, their estimated monetary value
has varied widely. They were appraised in 1980 at $15,000 each, according to
church records. In 2000, the painting of the national seal was appraised for
$500,000 while on loan to the Nassau County Museum of Art.
Both paintings have been in Bonetti's Chelsea studio since Sept. 17. He began
restoring them a few weeks ago and expects to finish in a few months.
In the painstaking process, Bonetti used Q-tips covered with artificial saliva
— water and enzymes — to brush every inch of the 4-foot-by-5-foot canvases.
"We want to limit our intervention as much as possible," he said. "These pieces
give me a sense of history. They don't belong to us, they belong to the
nation."
Maxon's has spent the past 10 months cleaning numerous buildings in lower
Manhattan, including St. Paul's Chapel, which survived the collapse undamaged
but was thickly coated in gray dust.
"We're truly honored to be entrusted with the restoration of these historic,
national treasures," said Maxon's president Damon Gersh. "We consider this work
to be symbolic of the restoration of the indomitable human spirit."
Gersh would not say how much the restoration of the paintings will cost.
St. Paul's Chapel, which was built in 1766 as part of the Episcopal Parish of
Trinity Church, is the oldest public building in continuous use in Manhattan
and the only remaining colonial-era church.
After his inaugural at Federal Hall on Wall Street in 1789, the new president
walked seven blocks to St. Paul's Chapel at Broadway and Fulton Street to pray.
He sat beneath the national seal painting in the presidential pew; New York
Gov. DeWitt Clinton sat in the governor's pew with the state seal hanging
overhead.
In the two years in which New York was the nation's capital, Washington
regularly attended St. Paul's and his pew has been preserved. Services were
held there to mark his death in 1799.
In December 2002, three months after the attacks and days before leaving
office, New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani went to St. Paul's Chapel to pray,
sitting in Washington's pew. The paintings by then had been removed for
cleaning.
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