February 20, 2006

Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series

NEW LINES OF ACTION IN HERITAGE

The Nagore altarpiece: appreciation and conservation

Dr. Mercedes Jover Hernando.
University of Navarra

Main altarpiece of the parish church of San Julián and Santa Basilisa de Nagore
 

The Parish of San Julián and Santa Basilisa de Nagore is presided over by an important main altarpiece, thanks to the appreciation that successive generations of inhabitants and the Institución Príncipe de Viana have felt for this property.

The main altarpiece of the Parish of San Julián and Santa Basilisa de Nagore is a Tardogothic altarpiece that recent research has attributed to the painter from Puente la Reina, Diego Polo, and has been dated to around 1510. Painted on panel, it depicts the four evangelists on the bench, the titular figures, Saint Julian and Saint Basilisa flanked by Saint Catherine, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Sebastian and another martyr saint (Saint Eulalia or Saint Faith), in the first section, and scenes from the life of Saint Julian in the second section.

With an eventful and very interesting material history, these painted panels have undergone several transformations and treatments, including an unsuccessful attempt to purchase them. It is worth noting that in 1952, restorers from the Prado Museum went to Nagore to restore the altarpiece, at which time it was rediscovered.

Recently and in a rigorous manner, a complete conservation and restoration treatment has been applied, which after a detailed study, thorough cleaning, consolidation and disinfestation of the support, reintegration of missing polychromy and protection of the tables has allowed refund to the parish its original altarpiece from the sixteenth century.

This lecture has tried to show the altarpiece of Nagore from another point of view, understanding it as an integral part of the cultural heritage of Navarre in which the traces left by the passage of time and its own material history can be appreciated.

It has also sought to publicize the conservation and restoration treatment that was applied in 1999, which halted its deterioration and sought to bequeath it to future generations in the best possible condition.