Saving the Villa of the Mysteries [2st part] - Η διάσωση της Βίλλα των Μυστηρίων [μέρος 2ον]

(Pasquale Sorrentino)

This scene shows a woman, perhaps the initiate, cringing as she is about to be flogged, and then the same or perhaps a different woman dancing and playing cymbals.

Five months after the Villa of the Mysteries was first uncovered, it still had no roof to protect it. Moisture began to infiltrate and weaken the walls and damage the frescoes, harmful salts from the wet ground left white splotches on the paintings, and the sun began to fade the fragile pigments.

Early conservation efforts sometimes involved removing frescoes, rebuilding or reinforcing the walls, and then reattaching the paintings. The first conservators also applied a coat of wax mixed with oil to clean the paintings’ surfaces, preserve the ancient pigments, and stabilize the fragile works, giving the frescoes a glossy appearance the ancient artists never intended them to have. At the same time, the wax filled in cracks in the surfaces, sealing moisture inside the walls, further weakening them by compromising the strength of the mortar holding the walls together.

(Pasquale Sorrentino)

Conservators are now using lasers to clean the frescoes, including the panel above.

By 2013 the villa, like most of Pompeii, was in dire need of modern conservation, as was a protective covering that had been constructed in different phases throughout the years. Parts of paintings were crumbling from unstable walls and the mosaics had been severely damaged by millions of visitors’ feet. Repeated applications of wax had caused the pigments to oxidize and darken, and the frescoes to yellow, significantly altering their appearance. “All the surface decorations of the villa, both mosaics and frescoes, had been conserved before, but in an irregular way,” says Stefano Vanacore, director of the restoration laboratory at Pompeii. “But there has never been a large, comprehensive program like we are doing now. We are looking at every single surface to analyze the materials used, both ancient and modern, and to research the causes of the deterioration. Only then can we restore the villa properly.”

πηγή : http://www.archaeology.org/issues/124-1403/features/1813-pompeii-saving-the-villa-of-the-mysteries#art_page2

http://pirforosellin.blogspot.gr/    -  Επιτρέπεται η αναδημοσίευση του περιεχομένου της ιστοσελίδας εφόσον αναφέρεται ευκρινώς η πηγή του και υπάρχει ενεργός σύνδεσμος (link). Νόμος 2121/1993 και κανόνες Διεθνούς Δικαίου που ισχύουν στην Ελλάδα.

ΕΠΙΣΗΜΑΝΣΗ

Ορισμένα αναρτώμενα από το διαδίκτυο κείμενα ή εικόνες (με σχετική σημείωση της πηγής), θεωρούμε ότι είναι δημόσια. Αν υπάρχουν δικαιώματα συγγραφέων, παρακαλούμε ενημερώστε μας για να τα αφαιρέσουμε. Επίσης σημειώνεται ότι οι απόψεις του ιστολόγιου μπορεί να μην συμπίπτουν με τα περιεχόμενα του άρθρου. Για τα άρθρα που δημοσιεύονται εδώ, ουδεμία ευθύνη εκ του νόμου φέρουμε καθώς απηχούν αποκλειστικά τις απόψεις των συντακτών τους και δεν δεσμεύουν καθ’ οιονδήποτε τρόπο το ιστολόγιο.