As CultureGrrl readers may remember, the Cleveland Museum’s great Caravaggio, “The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew,” 1606-1607, was recently used as a bargaining chip by that institution’s previous director, David Franklin, to salvage a nearly sabotaged show of antiquities loaned from Sicily.
Photo courtesy of Cleveland Museum of Art
But that proposed loan to Sicily was subsequently scrapped (or at least postponed) when Cleveland suddenly decided, after Franklin’s departure, that “Saint Andrew” was not fit to travel and needed extensive conservation work at home. (Nevertheless, the Sicily show did proceed as planned.)
While in Cleveland last week, I paid a visit to “Saint Andrew” in the conservation studio. It was a sorry sight: Stripped bare of all previous restorations, its significant losses and damage (to be repaired) were painfully exposed:
Now come join me and “Saint Andrew” in the museum’s conservation studio, where Per Knutås, the museum’s chief conservator, explains what’s been done to the painting, the nature of its losses (including a lost piece of canvas), what treatment is planned, and whether this masterpiece may eventually be deemed fit to travel (perhaps after a triumphant return to Cleveland’s galleries, in time for next year’s centennial celebration):