The carving of the patron saint of Barcelona will look more radiant than ever during the festival after undergoing a profound treatment at the Béns Mobles Restoration Center to restore the appearance it had in the 14th century, when it was created
The carving of the Mercè adds many centuries to the cult, some intervention and more than one mishap. From the XIV century, when Pere Moragues he created it, it has passed through the workshop several times. Most of the times to solve small polychrome flaws or to add elements, such as the throne, although at other times the interventions have been more profound as when in 1939 it had to be restored for the damage caused during July 1936, at the beginning of the Civil War, when the basilica was burned and the image of the Virgin thrown from the dressing room to the altar and his head was severely injured.
All these touch-ups, plus the passage of time, they have changed the original image of the size darkening her skin and hair, and altering the polychromy of her clothing. And so with brown hair and almost tanned the patron saint wore of Barcelona until last October. Now her complexions have lightened and her wavy mane, the curls can be seen looking at her back, has changed to reddish. She has also lowered the tone of the cloak that covers her back and whose open neckline, more typical of a princess than a virgin, make Gothic sculpture a special carving. Also, with her intervention, her pretty young girl lips stand out more than ever.
XVI polychromy
The change is the work of Bens Mobles Restoration Center, where has it been treated for nine months commissioned by the archbishopric of Barcelona. And from where it left last July conveniently packaged and environmentally isolated to return to the basilica and undergo a period of acclimatization – the wood is very delicate and even more so with so many centuries of history – before be put back into worship. Thing that will happen on the patron saint’s day, the next 24th September, during the solemn high mass (10.30 am). The transfer to the dressing room will take place the night before and the replica will be removed, made in the 20th century by Josep Barbero, who during the time the carving was absent has taken his place.
What the Conservatives have done has been a full intervention: the piece has been studied, it has been documented graphically and textually, x-rayed, photographed, stenographed, analyzed, placed in the disinsection chamber and, obviously, restored. All polychrome layers that added up, the second oldest has been recovered, dated between the 16th and 17th centuries because it was the closest to the original and the one that was best preserved. To try to get to the 14th century painting would have been to damage the piece. They have also been removed the base and all the iron screws incorporated throughout the centuries to hold her to the throne and secure the baby Jesus who sits on her knees. Elements completely unrelated to the original size that tilted the image forward, gave it instability and made it unnecessarily heavy: 95 kilograms in total.
Enthroned but without crown
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The weight of the size was not usual and neither is its size, much larger than usual in the images that are venerated in a dressing room. Not surprisingly, the original destination of the sculpture was not the current small chapel but the center of a Gothic altar made by Bernat Roca in the fourteenth century and eliminated in the seventeenth in favor of a baroque one, more in keeping with the time. Her posture also makes her special, sitting, more typical of the virgins of the Romanesque than of the Gothic. And his absence of a headband, he has it but later and outside the size: “It is a enthroned princess without crown, we do not know why. It was later placed as a jewel or as a complement. Nor is there any mark that indicates that he originally wore it & rdquor ;, assures the conservative Beatrice Montobbio, author of the change of the patron saint together with the also restaurateur Cloister Augé.
What they do not doubt is the beauty of the patron saint of Barcelona: “La Mercè has recovered its original silhouette from the 14th century and its image as a princess of Barcelona. She is very pretty & rdquor ;, they conclude in duet.