Restored Masterpiece by Luca Giordano in St. Petersburg

The exhibition «Luca Giordano. Discovery» will be on display at the Museum of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg from January 31 to March 22. The main focus is on the painting «The Massacre of the Innocents,» which has not been shown to the public for about a hundred years.

Visitors will see two works by the Italian master: the already restored «The Massacre of the Innocents» and «Jesus Among the Scribes,» the reconstruction of which will be carried out directly in the exhibition hall. Visitors will be able to observe the process up close, which is a rarity for such projects.

The painting «The Massacre of the Innocents» came to the museum in 1935 in an emergency state — with numerous tears and breaks in the canvas. After the war, it was preserved, and only in 2022 did comprehensive restoration begin.

First-category restorer Olga Kharitonova explained that the work was created on an unusually thin canvas consisting of five fragments, with a minimal layer of primer and pigments, including a precious blue color based on natural lapis lazuli. The old duplicating canvas from the 18th century, which held the author«s canvas, had to be replaced with a new, stronger one.

«But then I thought, the painting somehow lived without me for four hundred years,» smiles Olga Konstantinovna.

Difficulties arose when moving the restored painting to the exhibition hall. After the edges were unfolded, the painting increased in size and barely passed through several doorways. «There was one narrow spot where we realized — just a little more, and the painting wouldn»t have fit,« Kharitonova said.

On the back of one of the exhibition panels, there is an installation with tools and materials used by restorers. Among the exhibits are the old duplicating canvas from the 18th century and a Greek sponge used for cleaning the painting.

The restoration of the painting «Jesus Among the Scribes» will be carried out mainly on Mondays, when the museum is closed to visitors. However, some stages of the work can be seen on other days. The main processes are scheduled for the period after the exhibition, as conditions in the hall are not ideal for applying some compounds.

Olga Kharitonova announced that during the restoration, bright original colors characteristic of Italian Baroque painting will be revealed. Both paintings are being prepared for a future large-scale exhibition of Luca Giordano at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow.