24.10.2024

Dutch clamping method in the original

Building design

A Dutch crucifixion painting from the 17th century owned by the Hürten Museum in the Romanesque House (Bad Münstereifel) was badly damaged. Gloria Gräfin Hoensbroech restored the altarpiece. The Cologne-based restorer was able to preserve and document much of the original mounting’s condition, as she revealed to our Berlin correspondent Uta Baier. Now the valuable leaf has been returned to the museum […]

A Dutch crucifixion painting from the 17th century owned by the Hürten Museum in the Romanesque House (Bad Münstereifel) was badly damaged. Gloria Gräfin Hoensbroech restored the altarpiece. The Cologne-based restorer was able to preserve and document much of the original mounting, as she revealed to our Berlin correspondent Uta Baier. The valuable leaf has now returned to the museum.

You were commissioned to restore the Dutch altarpiece from the Romanesque House in the Hürten Museum in Bad Münstereifel because you have often restored Dutch paintings. Why did you specialize in Dutch paintings from the 17th century?

Gloria Gräfin Hoensbroech: I didn’t actually specialize in it. It just happens when you live and work in Cologne and the surrounding area, as I do. Dutch paintings are simply strongly represented here in the border region.

What was special, what was challenging about restoring the crucifixion painting from the Romanesque House?

Countess Hoensbroech: The challenge was relatively normal. I had to make an edge enhancement, remove the canvas and re-stretch it. It wasn’t a radical intervention, but it was a major one, as I had to remove the original stretching situation, bring in new material and re-stretch the canvas. With an old canvas, it is not unusual for the threads to be porous and the stretching to become loose or even missing in places. As long as this is only the case to a small extent and the canvas and the stretching edges allow it, partial re-stretching would have been the method of choice. In this case, however, around half of all the nails on the top edge had become obsolete. As the clamping edge was very tight, partial re-clamping was not possible. As a result, the alterations have a strong impact on the original condition. The impressive thing was that I found a lot of original substance. I had previously only seen these technologies in textbooks.

What exactly did you find?

Countess Hoensbroech: I found the first clamping on the original stenter frame. That was incredibly interesting from a technological point of view because I was able to see the original Dutch clamping method here.

Did you find any particular damage?

Countess Hoensbroech: No, a corroded canvas at the edge is normal for a 300-year-old painting. Even the small tear on the thigh of the crucified Jesus, which I closed, was nothing special for such an old painting. After all, it was transported several times over the past centuries, as it came from the collegiate monastery of Münstereifel, which was secularized, was privately owned, was inherited and sold several times and only came to the museum in the 1960s.

The painting is dated 1700 and you were the first restorer to work on it for 300 years?

Countess Hoensbroech: Yes. There was a newer varnish, but it was applied in the decorative frame. A small amount of retouching was done. This frame dates from the 19th century and was probably made for the secularization-related sale. Nothing else has been changed. That’s why I was so enthusiastic about the almost untouched original condition.

But there was no question of completely re-mounting it?

Countess Hoensbroech: There was a question of making the stretcher frame wedgeable because the painting was so bulbous. However, as I had to unstretch it anyway and re-stretch it after the edges had been added, I had the opportunity to observe it over several weeks. As the tension did not change, I decided to keep the original context. That was very important to me.

You documented the restoration. Will you be publishing the results?

Countess Hoensbroech: I think that once I have trainees, I will pass these experiences on to them. Nothing is planned with the museum yet. But the restoration of the altar is not yet complete. The altarpiece still needs to be worked on by a wood restorer.

What is your advice for the further exhibition of the newly restored painting?

Countess Hoensbroech: A constant climate would be very important, because there are mold spores that can never be completely destroyed. That’s why I advise paying particular attention to the climate, which must never be conducive to mold.

The painting cannot yet be attributed to an artist by name. You haven’t found a signature either?

Countess Hoensbroech: To be honest, I rarely hope to find a signature on a Dutch painting from this period. There were simply too many workshops back then.

31.12.2024

Society

Tilling open space

Building design

As the population increases, so does the density stress in Swiss cities and conurbations. At the same time, outdoor recreation and sport are becoming more important. A 2014 publication on the greater Zurich area provides examples of how existing green spaces can be made more accessible. Pieter Poldervaart analyzes the results in the December issue of G+L. The study Freiraumnetz Zürich can be […]

As the population increases, so does the density stress in Swiss cities and conurbations. At the same time, outdoor recreation and sport are becoming more important. A 2014 publication on the greater Zurich area provides examples of how existing green spaces can be made more accessible. Pieter Poldervaart analyzes the results in the December issue of G+L. You can download the Freiraumnetz Zürich study here.

8.42 million people lived in Switzerland in 2017, compared to 7.08 million or 19 percent fewer twenty years ago. In the past, this annual growth of one percent and the increasing demand for living space per capita was accompanied by a partly unchecked urban sprawl. Greater Zurich is particularly affected by the rapid growth in the resident population. Three million people live in the perimeter defined as the Zurich metropolitan area, which includes not only the canton of Zurich but also numerous municipalities in neighboring cantons and even in neighboring southern Germany.

Forecasts suggest that 30,000 people per year will continue to move to Switzerland’s economic center. In addition to housing and jobs, these people also need recreational space. In 2014, the Zurich Metropolitan Area Association therefore published an outline that shows the way to a “settlement-related open space network” – as the title suggests. In addition to describing the problem, the guide aims to show how existing recreational areas can be upgraded and new ones created and how planning is possible across municipal and cantonal boundaries. You can download the study here.

You can read the full article in G+L 12/18.

06.01.2025

Event

One brick prize, many awards

Building design

Main prizewinner of the German Brick Award 2019 — City library

German Brick Award 2019 presented – one prize, many awards for exemplary energy projects

The results of the German Brick Award 2019 were announced on February 1: 120 submissions of exemplary energy-efficient brick projects from all over Germany made the decision difficult for the jury, chaired by Piero Bruno from the Berlin office of Bruno Fioretti Marquez. The high design quality ultimately led to a large number of awards – two main prizes, six special prizes in various categories and eight commendations.

The main prize for monolithic construction was deservedly awarded to Harris + Kurrle Architekten from Stuttgart for the municipal library in Rottenburg am Neckar. The jury praised “the sensitive positioning of the remarkable new building as a communicative and contemplative place in the fabric of the city”. It also praised the public building for its skillful, creative use of monolithic exterior wall constructions made of highly insulating bricks.

An extension

The main prize for multi-shell construction went to the remarkable extension to the Philosophy Department of the University of Münster by Peter Böhm Architekten from Cologne. “The building, modestly described as a ‘shelf wall’, cleverly incorporates the existing listed building and forms an attractive façade opposite the historic Fürstenberghaus,” said the jury. “In this case, the haptic brick becomes synonymous with sensual appeal and a cleverly reduced, ornamental appearance.”

A special prize for energy efficiency

Several special prizes were also awarded, including one for “Cost-effective, energy-efficient multi-storey residential construction”. This was won by the Ulm-based firm Braunger Wörtz Architekten with their project at Vorwerkstrasse 23/1 in Neu-Ulm. The new building for the Neu-Ulm housing association (NUWOG) comprises 31 publicly subsidized, barrier-free rental apartments in a six-storey building and is designed as a KfW Efficiency House 70. The jury: “The uncomplicated design with monolithic brick exterior walls, which are finished with a white cement scratch coat that does not require painting, guarantees this residential building a low-maintenance, long life.”

Awarded by: Ziegelzentrum Süd e.V. in cooperation with the
Federal Ministry of the Interior
www.ziegel.com

The exhibition can be seen until February 15, 2019 at the Haus der Architektur, Waisenhausstraße 4 in Munich. It will then travel to various universities.

Photos: Roland Halbe; Lukas Roth; Erich Spahn