The ugly foot of Titian Automatic translate

ArtHistoryNews: The Restorer disfigured Danai’s leg in Titian’s work “Danae, Receiving Zeus in the Form of Golden Rain”.

http://gallerix.ru/album/Titian/pic/glrx-922690505

One of the reasons why it is worth listening to the opinion of the true experts of each particular great artist is that it is important to know not only who painted the canvas, but also to understand how the master painted it. This is especially important for restorers. Recovering a damaged painting is not only a technical exercise in accuracy, that is, filling holes from peeling paint or retouching small cracks, but also a conscious process that requires knowledge of how the artist approached each piece of the canvas.

A vivid example is one of the works of Titian, somewhat spoiled by the wrong approach of the restorer. Titian, like most of his Venetian colleagues, was an artist who liked to work on canvas quite freely, as a result of which, we now have canvases that have changed many times in the process of writing.

In the picture "Danae, taking Zeus in her bosom in the form of a golden rain" (1553, Prado Museum), we see a rather strange configuration of the foot of the main character. It is clear that Titian would never have allowed such ugly fingers to leave his studio, even if they were written by his assistant. So what happened? As you can see in the enlarged image, there are vague outlines of the one written earlier and located below the final position of the foot. Probably, once the picture was cleaned and restored by a not very experienced specialist who combined the outlines of two, painted at different times of the feet, into one. As a result, we see two unnaturally long fingers on a too short, unbalanced foot.

This example shows us that it is impossible to approach the restoration process solely from the technical side. Some pigments and methods of applying paint may be more vulnerable to solvents than others. In addition, the restorer must also be a little artist himself in order to feel such moments as the proportions and aesthetics of the picture.

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru