Zprávy památkové péče 2016, 76(4):362-370

Restoration of the cycle "Dance of Death" and the paintings in the chapel and pharmacy of the Kuks Hospital

Milena Nečásková

The walls of the main hall of the Kuks Hospital bear 46 wall paintings with scenes from the cycle "Dance of Death", which illustrate an anonymous German poem about human equality before death and which were painted according to templates by Hans Holbein the younger. Quatrain verses of the poem are listed below the paintings. The paintings were made around 1720, and after several decades were partially scraped off and whitened. Four scenes were gradually recovered in the 20th century, while the cycle as a whole was restored during the renovation of the hospital in 2013-2015. The fortunate choice of restoration concept included not only the murals, but the entire corridor as well. The Baroque plaster and the simple original paintings on the surfaces that surround the mural paintings were also restored. The painting technique was designated as lime secco on a lime primer. The paintings were created somewhat after the completion of the corridor, since in many places there are two layers of paint beneath the paintings. The paintings' author maintained the composition of Holbein's templates quite accurately, although many details are different and some scenes are reversed. Preparatory drawings or other traces of aids to transfer the composition were carefully searched for, but no use of any preparatory drawings or geometric auxiliary meshes was demonstrated. The painter worked according to the templates directly using freehand. This method of working enabled not only a relatively small painting format - squares with a surface of slightly below 4 m2 - but also the painter's apparent erudition, evident on a single scraping of a paint layer in the undamaged painting Canon, where the artist's freehand brushwork is visible. The pigments used correspond to the contemporary palette; only the blue is an enamel, the only proven green is earth green, and in addition to iron red, the painter also used cinnabar. The essence of the restoration lay in the retouching process. Returning the original artistic expression to such damaged paintings is not possible. Retouching was a compromise in an effort to make the scenes readable while not disturbing the authenticity of the preserved work. Drawing reconstruction was therefore not used anywhere, and the retouching was executed in a weaker color intensity. The mold on the paintings and structural consolidation of the paintings in the chapel and pharmacy also had to be addressed. Some basic questions are mentioned regarding the overlapping of the restoration and construction work.

Keywords: mural; Dance of Death; template; painting technique; preparatory drawing; retouching; structural consolidation; mold; overlapping work

Published: December 1, 2016  Show citation