Photograph of the entire work in 1950 before
the intervention by Mr Goulinat.
(C2RMF) In 2001, a new restoration was envisaged in order to present the work to the public once more. Before any intervention, it is important to question the validity of one’s premises. When the Crucifixion of the Parliament of Toulouse arrived in the workshop the paint was lifting fairly generally, so it was obvious that an intervention would be necessary to preserve it.
Intervening for aesthetic reasons posed more problems. On the one hand, the paint has been thickened by numerous restorations. On the other, the extent of the repaints raised doubts as to the validity of a derestoration that might leave a scarcely legible composition. The variety and extravagance of previous restoration methods had also given the whole an extremely chaotic appearance. The sky and prie-dieux had been retouched using the gros points method. The king’s red cloak was rendered using micro-dots of uniform tonality. The Virgin’s red robe had been restored using tratteggio, her face and the countryside in illusionist style. The King’s face was still lacunary, with the preparation showing through.
The necessity and urgency of an intervention to refix the paint, the great value and the strength of the remaining composition, distorted by numerous repaints, all pointed towards fundamental restoration. The lifting paint was mainly localized in the areas where the wooden support was defective, riddled with holes bored by insects, and in zones which had been filled.
Although there is a complex interaction between the various types of deterioration, they can be presented more simply by differentiating between the internal factors related to the ageing of the components of the picture and external factors of human origin.
The materials chosen when creating the work are certainly the cause of the most long-standing deterioration. The tangential cut combined with the presence of knotty areas in the upper part of the panel led to substantial play in the wood, then caused a loss of adhesion in the preparation, which it must remembered lacked flexibility (lacunae in the upper right section, as well as below Christ’s right arm). The nature of the cut was also responsible for the widening of the joints and the splitting of the wood, particularly in the region of the King’s cloak.
The species chosen (walnut) partly explains the significant amount of borer damage at the edges of the boards (closer to the sapwood), which has determined the collapse of the paint layer.
Human intervention has unfortunately been the cause of much of the deterioration of the paint layer. X-rays have clarified the acts of Revolutionary vandalism masked by the repaints: the face of the King was scratched off, as were the crown and fleurs de lys – symbols of royalty, systematically removed from the coats of arms, drapery on the prie-dieux and doubtless the King’s cloak.
The massive deterioration of the picture’s lower border was very probably caused by humidity when the work was stored on the bare ground in the 19th Century. The golden sky has suffered irreparable damage as a result of an early restoration during the 1850s. Lastly, the instability of the support has led to problems with permanent lifting of the paint layer.