Berta Blasi We have on the operating table before us 14 large-format patients. They are 13 posters by makers who have left their mark on Modernisme: Adolf Hohenstein, Jean Ubaghs, Théopile Alexandre Steinlen, Jules Chéret, Ethel Reed, Henri Privat-Livemont, Leonetto Cappiello, Henri-Gustave Jossot and Leonardo Bistolfi, and an original drawing by Apel·les Mestres, recently identified…
Read more
In the previous article we placed the fragments of mural painting from the group of San Pedro de Arlanza in context. In this article we shall discuss the recovery of the work in the storerooms, Pardus and architecture, and compare it to the piece in the permanent exhibition, the Griffin. The two beasts: the Griffin…
Read more
Valeria Mamczynski In recent years several projects have been carried out to conserve and restore the stained glass windows in the Museu Nacional’s collection, which I began to discuss in a previous article. In this second article I shall continue to look at the restoration of these stained glass widows: Treatment for joining broken pieces…
Read more
Valeria Mamczynski The museum has a group of technically exquisite stained glass windows that includes some of the most characteristic examples of Catalan Modernisme, a movement in which stained glass, like all the other decorative arts, played an important part. In recent years several conservation-restoration projects have been carried out on the stained glass windows…
Read more
Núria Prat i Pere de Llobet What lies beneath the visible polychromy? The carving is of Saint Nicholas of Bari, dressed in bishop’s robes, with mitre and chasuble. With his right hand he is blessing and in the other hand, now lost, he was most probably holding the crozier. The carving is Gothic, while the…
Read more
Núria Prat and Pere de Llobet The Altarpiece-tabernacle of Saint Nicholas is a work that was kept in the Museu Nacional’s storeroom for years. It entered the Museu d’Art de Catalunya (now the Museu Nacional) in 1934, as a donation by the collector Damià Mateu i Bisa. We know that the work was on display…
Read more
Núria Oriols We continue our visit to the museum’s rooms that we began in last week’s article. Renaissance and Baroque art rooms Preparations with clays As we move into a new room, we observe another change in the type of format. In the different sections of this period the majority of paintings are on canvas….
Read more
Núria Oriols The year 2019 was declared International Year of the Periodic Table by UNESCO. It commemorated the 150th anniversary of a system to organize and classify the 63 chemical elements that were then known, designed by the Russian chemist Dmitri I. Mendeleev. He based it on atomic mass, and left gaps in which to…
Read more
Juan Antonio Herráez During the week of 7-11 October, all around the museum facilities one could see many conservators without their characteristic white lab coats. The museum hosted the course The Preventive Conservation Plan in Museums, organised by CRAC (Associated Conservators-Restorers of Catalonia), in collaboration with the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya itself and IPCE…
Read more
Mireia Campuzano and Carme Ramells The exhibition Bermejo: the 15th-Century Rebel Genius has for a few months allowed us to enjoy exceptional works by this Flemish influenced artist. In this blog, however, we shall be placing the emphasis on studying the early stages of the creative process and we shall turn our gaze to what…
Read more
