Restored altarpiece reinstalled in Võru County church
A large altarpiece in a South Estonian church has been restored and returned after a challenging, three-month-long job.
The three-meter-long painting which graces the altar at the Vastseliina Church (Vastseliina kirik) in Võru County had become damaged and was in need of rejuvenation. It got exactly that treatment at the Estonian Open Air Museum's conservation and digitization center in Tallinn.
The altarpiece, called "Ülestõusmine" ("Resurrection"), consists of two sections.
Based on the Italian text preserved on the back of the painting and found during the course of the conservation work, it is now known the inner part of the creation is a copy, made in Florence by the 19th-century artist Giovanni Rocchi.
This gave the lie to previous assumptions, which linked the work to Baltic German artists Friedrich Ludwig von Maydell or Woldemar Friedrich Krüger.
"The inner painting is a copy of the wall fresco in the San Marco Monastery in Florence, and this copy is astonishingly accurate. The surrounding painting was added in 1901, when the church was extended, and the artist Beilstein, who worked at the Liphart manor, painted this outer section," said Eve Turvas, who heads up the Vastseliina congregation.
The nearby Vastseliina Manor was latterly owned by the von Liphart family until it was destroyed by fire in 1925.
"The painting had heat damage — either candles were placed too close or they were blown out in such a way that grease splattered onto the painting. Going forward, we certainly need to ensure that things like that no longer happen. We have a large candle snuffer, so that candles no longer have to be blown out, both for safety reasons and to preserve the painting for future generations," said Jaanus Torrim, the congregation's pastor.
"When I think about what kind of painting left here, the image we now see is much brighter and clearer, and we have learned a great deal of new information about it," Torrim added.
During the work, the coat of arms of the Liphart family was also made visible in the lower section of the outer painting, having previously been concealed behind the frame.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Mari Peegel
Source: 'Aktuaalne kaamera'
