Conservation of Nineteenth Century Wall Paintings in the Church of Santa Maria La Mayor in the City of Colmenar de Oreja, Madrid County, Spain.
Project Directors: Guillermo Urbano – Viviana Dominguez
Santa Maria la Mayor is the main church of a small sixteenth century town in the outskirts of Madrid, Spain. Ulpiano Checa, a well-known nineteenth century artist, painted three 27x 23 feet murals in the church depicting San Cristobal, and two scenes from the Virgin Mary’s life. During the Spanish Civil War, when the stone church was taken over by Francisco Franco’s army and turned into a weapons and munitions storage, the murals were vandalized and the San Cristobal mural was half burned during an attack. In 2007, as part of the church’s restoration, Viviana Dominguez co-directed a team to conserve the three murals under a grant from the Madrid Municipality.
Mural I titled: “ The presentation of Virgin Mary to the Temple” (“La Presentación de la Virgen en el Templo”) and mural II titled: “The Annunciation” (“La Anunciación”), located on the altar across from each other, exhibited similar conservation conditions. A local artist had repaired the murals on many occasions prior to conservation, filling large areas of mural losses, and re-painting some of the characters and other areas. Mural III titled: “Saint Cristobal” located next to the West entrance door, had been recently repaired by a group of students that had repainted the burned sections.
The walls for the three paintings were originally prepared with several layers of gypsum (medium and course) from a local gypsum quarry located a few kilometers away from Colmenar de Oreja. The oil paint layers were then thinly applied with a brush. While some areas have the opaque appearance of the oil medium, other sections appear to have the translucency of water color. Only the two Virgin Mary altar pieces were protected with a thin layer of a coniferous resin.
The stone walls had shifted and cracked during previous building remodelings. Wall preparation and paint layer losses accompany the severe cracking of the surface. Large areas of material detachments from the wall were a consequence of mechanical movement and material fatigue. The lower areas were severely deteriorated with multiple abrasions and accidental small holes from moving furniture and artifacts. The surfaces were grey and dull, covered with a thick layer of soot and grime, as well as dripping marks from paint and cement.
Preliminary work consisted of a detailed scientific study of the mural’s materials. The conservation team worked together with the architects on the stabilization of the support walls. The team, led by Ms. Dominguez, next consolidated friable surfaces, stabilized detachments and hollow areas in the mural, removed old unstable repairs, injected cracks with grout, filled losses with gesso, imprinted losses in the design, and prepared a comprehensive maintenance program for its long-term care in time for the church’s re-inauguration on Christmas Eve, 2007.
