Why is the painting 'Wounded Militiaman' irreparable?

BarcelonaThe painting Wounded Militiaman, by Francisco Mateos, preserved at the National Art Museum of Catalonia (MNAC), is in an irrecoverable state. What happened to it? Has its condition worsened over time? Did the painter have anything to do with it? All the answers can be found in the corresponding episode of the series The Science of Art, a production by the museum and Cábala Films, with the associated production of CaixaForum+. The reconstruction of 'Wounded Militiaman' is one of the six episodes that are now available on CaixaForum+. Exceptionally, the making of the documentary led to the painting being exhibited, despite its poor state of conservation, accompanied by a reconstruction made by the artist Pilar Rosado with the help of AI.

"It's a rather new format, because it's art and science outreach that basically aims to reach as wide an audience as possible," says the series director, Roser Toll. "When we started the project, we wanted to try to explain the scientific process behind the discoveries and new knowledge we were generating in the restoration department. But since it was all very abstract from the outset, we tell a story for each selected work," she explains. "Ultimately, all these findings must serve to explain the genesis of the works, how they were made, but also to explain why they reach us today in the way they do," says the head of the restoration and preventive conservation area at MNAC, Carme Ramells. "The purpose of these investigations is to have a deep knowledge of the work today in order to make decisions and to make ethical decisions," adds the conservator. For example, in the case of Wounded Militiaman, the decision was not to try to reintegrate the lost parts of the painting. The painting is so deteriorated because, in the midst of the Civil War, Mateos did not have materials at hand and recycled two already painted canvases. The chemical reactions of the canvas materials caused the painting to be severely damaged.

The Master of Cabestany and Nonell

All episodes have a duration of about 13 minutes. Another is dedicated to the research to find out if, on the portal of Sant Pere de Rodes, the Master of Cabestany used local marbles or if, on the contrary, he recycled ancient ones from Italy, Turkey, and France. Also in the field of painting, the series allows us to delve into what an "Esquisse" by Isidre Nonell hides under the dress, and to recall the restoration of Zurbarán's painting Saint Francis of Assisi according to the vision of Pope Nicholas V.. The museum brought together the three existing versions in the exhibition Zurbarán (super)natural,and the studies allowed us to see that in the preparation layer there is mud, with its microfossils, from the banks of the Guadalquivir. The protagonists of another of the episodes are the Romanesque murals of Sant Pere del Burgal, one of whose fragments does not fit with the rest, and the last analyzes the surprises hidden by the paper support of the fabulous Portrait of Pierre-Louis Laideguive, by Quentin Latour.