Zprávy památkové péče 2016, 76(4):379-386

The restored Dance of Death paintings in Kuks in a conservationist's retrospect

Petr Skalický, Terezie Šiková

The article looks back at the recent restoration of the cycle of wall murals depicting the Dance of Death cycle located on the longitudinal walls of the main hall on the ground floor of the north wing of the Kuks Hospital. The cycle of paintings, which were probably created around 1722 and whitened already probably in the second half of the same century, originally consisted of fifty paintings, of which forty-six have been preserved. Most of them were uncovered during a recent restoration in 2013 and 2014 as part of the renewal of the entire complex from grants provided by the Integrated Operational Program entitled Kuks - Pomegranate.
Even though the paintings were mostly covered, it is remarkable how some scholars (especially Pavel Preiss and Jiří Šerých) very shrewdly determined their possible artistic background (Hans Holbein the younger) as well as their dating. Recent observations by older scholars were largely confirmed in the monographic article by Matouš Jirák, Jindřich Kolda, and Jiří Slavík who, after restoration, published the cycle with a critical catalog of markings that accompany the paintings.
The article presents a description of the perception of the work from an expert heritage viewpoint and the role of conservationist in the restoration of this monumental cycle. It does not focus on the technology nor the material side of the restoration, but rather on how conservationists considered the paintings and the discussions carried out between conservationists and restorers over the work. The paintings mostly survived in a desolate condition that was beyond the imaginary boundary of restoration in some cases. The restoration of some paintings, if they were considered as a solitary work, would be completely pointless. The key to any kind of concept of restoration work was consensually seen in understanding the cycle as a single image which extends lengthwise in rows down the wall of the corridor. This key to artistic rehabilitation was not seen so much in the details of the individual images, which were not even created by an artist of exceptional merit, but as a whole, i.e. how the paintings complete the sensation of rhythm throughout the corridor, and in what the paintings as a whole semantically represent in the context of the entire hospital or of the entire former "Sporck" complex.
For these reasons, part of the article is also devoted to a meditation on the deeper meaning of the role of the paintings; this need not rest so much in a compulsive obsession in the phenomenon of death of the client, Count Franz Anton von Sporck, but rather in an (eschatological) hope.
Another part of the article focuses on the matter of heritage renovation under grant programs which are bound by strict rules to the work that are often difficult to reconcile with a responsible attitude toward the values of heritage properties. It consequently presents a criticism of certain conditions of grant programs, where the question arises as to whether they also may be our own little work. This is most relevant, at the least, when we remain silent toward the given circumstances and accept the work as our own.

Keywords: Kuks Hospital; Count Franz Anton von Sporck; Dance of Death; The concept of restoration; wall murals

Published: December 1, 2016  Show citation