Drama and Devotion. Heemskerck’s ECCE HOMO altarpiece from the National Museum
The Ecce Homo altarpiece from1544 by the Dutch Renaissance painter Maerten van Heemskerck is one of the treasures of the National Museum in Warsaw (Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie). In 2009 the J. Paul Getty Museum was invited to explore joint conservation projects with Polish institutions.
This well-preserved, intact altarpiece by one of the most extraordinary artistic personalities working in the Netherlands was selected as the focus of a conservation partnership with the National Museum. Since its arrival in the autumn of 2010, the altarpiece has been cleaned and intensively studied by conservators and curators together with Getty Conservation Institute scientists.The National Museum in Warsaw Conservator, Iwona Stefańska, also participated in two sessions (of a couple of weeks each). Exciting findings from the project, which have significantly enhanced our understanding of Heemskerck’s materials and techniques, were later presented in the documentation exhibition in J. Paul Getty Museum from June 2012 to April 2013.
The extended Conservation Partnership project has been generously supported by the Paintings Conservation Council of the J. Paul Getty Museum, whom the National Museum owes also the exhibition in Warsaw. It will be on show in the National Museum from May 18th to June 30th 2013. The triptych – in full splendour after cleaning and conservation – will be accompanied by rich visual material showing X-radiographs, ultraviolet photographs before cleaning, infrared reflectograms and cross-section samples of painting material, which reveal a fascinating existence “beneath the surface” and illustrate Heemskerck’s painting technique.
Other events this month
