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Conservation Revealed: The French Sculpture Project

Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert, Painting and Sculpture, 1774/1778, marble, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.110

For the first time at the National Gallery of Art, works of art are being conserved in the galleries where they are permanently exhibited, in full view of the public rather than behind the scenes in a conservation laboratory. Six marble sculptures—carved in the 17th and 18th centuries by some of the greatest sculptors working in France—will undergo conservation treatment in the elegant East Sculpture Hall of the Gallery’s West Building.

National Gallery of Art conservators will be removing dust, dirt, and grime accumulated on the sculptures over decades of display in their current location. They will also improve previous restorations that have discolored over time.

In addition to providing visitors with a rare glimpse into the world of art conservation, conserving the works in situ allows the marble sculptures to be treated in the same natural light in which they are currently exhibited. The conservators can also continually refer to the other statues, ensuring an overall sense of visual harmony. Finally, conducting the treatments in place minimizes any risks associated with moving these large and fragile works of art.

In total, this work will take approximately one year, with each sculpture requiring several months of treatment. A live video feed displayed adjacent to the sculpture will provide a close-up view of the conservation work in progress.

Throughout the initiative, this page will be updated as work progresses.

Conservation of the sculptures is funded by a grant from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project.

In-Gallery Work Schedule

Watch conservation work in action Monday through Friday, 11:00 a.m.–noon and 2:00–4:00 p.m., in the East Sculpture Hall (West Building, Main Floor).

Works Undergoing Treatment

The French Sculpture Project: Works Undergoing Treatment

Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert, Painting and Sculpture, 1774/1778, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.110
The French Sculpture Project: Works Undergoing Treatment

Clodion, Poetry and Music, c. 1774/1778, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.98
The French Sculpture Project: Works Undergoing Treatment

Benoît Massou, Anselme Flamen, Nicolas Rebillé, A Garden Allegory: The Dew and Zephyr Cultivating Flowers, 1683/1732, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.106
Carved from white marble, a young woman holds a short spear by one side and looks down toward a dog standing by her other side in this free-standing sculpture. Her body faces us in this photograph, and her head is tipped forward and to our right. She has a straight, delicate nose, and her thin lips are parted, possibly in a slight smile. Her wavy hair is held back under a band with an ornament on the crown, and a long curl falls behind one shoulder. Her knee-length garment exposes one firm breast and half of the other. The drapery clings tightly to her body and legs so the folds accentuate her curves. A longer garment falls from her waist, behind her legs, to pool at her sandaled feet. She stands with her weight mostly on her left leg, to our right, and the other knee bent. She holds the shaft of the spear with her right hand, to our left. Her other arm is drawn across her body at waist level. With that hand, she loosely holds the dog’s leash, which then falls across her thighs to the dog, sitting at her feet to our right. The short haired, thin, muscular hound is seated so its chest squares toward us. It twists its head up to look at the woman, its nose pressed along her leg. Its mouth is open, and the tongue curls out over sharp teeth. The dog wears a snug, buckled collar. The woman and dog stand on a square platform of white marble resting on a slab veined with charcoal gray and black, against a smoke-gray wall.
The French Sculpture Project: Works Undergoing Treatment

Jean-Louis Lemoyne, A Companion of Diana, 1710-1724, marble, Widener Collection, 1942.9.133
A woman carved from cream-white marble stands holding an open book to which she points in this free-standing sculpture. In this photograph, her body faces us but her head turns to our right. She has a long nose, small mouth, and rounded chin. Her wavy, upswept hair is topped by a semi-circular headdress. Her voluminous gown clings to her torso, leaving one breast exposed. The fabric falls in deep folds around her legs and sandalled feet. Her left shoulder, on our right, is bare. A band crosses her chest from that shoulder to her waist. She holds the tall book in her right hand, on our left, braced against that hip. Her other hand points to the words inscribed in Latin on its pages. It reads, “CALLIOPE REGI NA,HOMINVM, DIVVMQVE VO LVPTAS CARMINIS HE ROI NVMERIS FVLGENTIA SIGNIS AGMINA, BEL LANTVMQVE ANIMOS, ET P RAELIA CAN TO, INCLYTAQVE AETERNAE COMMI TO. NOMINA FAMAE.” She stands on a square base supported on a fawn-brown, veined marble plinth. The background behind her is nickel gray.
The French Sculpture Project: Works Undergoing Treatment

Augustin Pajou, Calliope, c. 1763, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1952.5.107
The French Sculpture Project: Works Undergoing Treatment

Barthélemy Prieur, Justice, 1610, marble, Samuel H. Kress Collection, 1943.4.86

Current Work

Jean-Pierre-Antoine Tassaert’s Painting and Sculpture (1774/1778), the sculpture in the East Sculpture Hall that sustained the most damage over the past centuries, is in the final stages of treatment. Joins between the original marble, 19th-century carved marble replacements, and other areas of loss, which were previously filled with materials that had darkened over time, are currently being filled with a reversible, semitranslucent resin more closely resembling marble. Some areas require inpainting to visually integrate the surface.

Poetry and Music by Clodion is in the early stages of conservation. The marble is undergoing surface cleaning with pH-adjusted water and coating removal using organic solvents. After overall cleaning, previous restorations to losses and joins that have discolored will be removed and replaced using the method described above.

Commissioned by Abbé Terray, finance minister to King Louis XV of France, both Painting and Sculpture and Poetry and Music were part of a set of four marble sculptures designed to adorn Terray’s Paris mansion. Beautifully carved from single blocks of marble sourced from the quarries of Carrara, Italy, all four sculptures were intentionally damaged during the French Revolution and were subsequently restored in the years that followed. While the marble replacement pieces were masterfully carved, the fill materials used to integrate them no longer serve their original purpose. The current conservation treatments will return the sculptures to a more exhibitable condition that allows for better appreciation of their surfaces, the compositions, and the great skills of the artists.

Press

National Gallery of Art Selected as a 2019 Bank of America Art Conservation Project Grant Recipient: Grant Supports In Situ Conservation of Several 18th-Century French Marble Sculptures (October 17, 2019)