Watch my VLOG video here: The Hague | Mauritshuis, Exhibition Facelifts & Makeovers
Centuries-old paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer and Rubens still look good today, but how is it possible that they have survived the test of time? The secret lies partly in the conservation of paintings. To get a better idea of what conservators do, you can take a look behind the scenes of the conservators where the conservation of paintings are put in the spotlight.
The exhibition Facelifts and Makeovers in the Mauritshuis shows you the hidden world of conservation. It is an exciting world, in which you get to see how suddenly a completely different image is discovered under different lower layers of a painting, how a soldier appears in a painting, while he was not there before and what restoration ethical dilemmas conservators are facing.
Emptymeet Facelifts & Makeovers
Invitation Emptymeet
How often does it happen that you are allowed to look around an empty museum with your camera and tripod under your arm, are given plenty of space to express yourself creatively, admire masterpieces from the museum and listen to the stories of a restorer who tells us about the restoration work of her and her colleagues.
Together with a group of other enthusiasts, I was invited by Jann aka @senns_less for an Emptymeet at the Mauritshuis at Plein 29 in The Hague in the Netherlands in collaboration with the Mauritshuis.
Snacks and drinks in the Kunstwerkplaats
In the lobby of the Mauritshuis, René Timmermans gives us a warm welcome, to guide us further during the Emptymeet. We deliver our coats and bags to the cloakroom and walk to the Kunstwerkplaats on the first floor, where we can get to know everyone while enjoying a snack and a drink.
Meet and Greet
Our group consists of twelve people including myself, of which I know a total of one personally, some people I follow on Instagram, from other people I know their Instagram account and some people I don’t know at all. I find it quite exciting to meet new people in this way, my social side is not my strongest side I must admit, but it immediately takes me out of my comfort zone.
The people are fortunately all super nice and it is also very cool to see which person is behind some Instagram accounts.
Welcome by restorer Sabrina Meloni
Sabrina Meloni is a restorer and co-creator of the exhibition Facelifts & Makeovers, together with Quentin Buvelot, who is a conservator.
The collection of the Mauritshuis
The collection of the Mauritshuis mainly consists of seventeenth century paintings with big names such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Frans Hals and Jan Steen. In 1994 they started sharing restorative materials and technical research with the public. At the time, this was quite unique to other museums and was not actually done. They then restored the most famous painting of the Mauritshuis, ‘the girl with a pearl earring’ by Johannes Vermeer, in front of the public.
The exhibition
In this exhibition they have highlighted a different aspect of twenty paintings that have been restored over the past twenty years, so that throughout the exhibition you get an idea of the work of a restorer.
Sabrina Meloni shows on a screen, a studio with her team of restorers, consisting of colleagues and trainees.
Case studies
Sabrina Meloni shows a few case studies, including the work of Gerard ter Borch, from which they thought they would complete the restoration work within three months, but in the end they worked on the painting for four years.
Painting by Pieter de Hooch
In the exhibition they show one painting that is still under restoration, namely the painting by Pieter de Hooch, ‘A Courtyard’, painted circa 1658-1660. We see an image of the painting before the restoration and we see another image taken during the restoration where a figure appeared in the background. Sometimes the artist himself changes something in his painting, but in this painting it happened later, sometime before 1823.
The meaning has changed
There is another version of this painting in Washington by the same artist. They know from research that the artist first painted this painting from Washington and then the painting that hangs in the Mauritshuis. Because the third figure has been removed from the painting, the meaning of the painting has changed.
The mystery of the missing soldier
What you see in the original painting are two men, challenging a woman to a drinking game. One of the men is a soldier and that is the figure who has mysteriously disappeared. Because the figure is gone, it has become a couple in a courtyard. This is how the painting is also described, as a couple with a girl in a courtyard.
The restoration dilemma
The restorers are now faced with the dilemma of what to do with the painting;
- Show them the history of the painting and leave it as it is, leaving a shadow of the soldier visible.
- Repaint the fence as it was before the restoration or
- Restore the soldier based on the painting in Washington?
The vote of the public
They let the public vote. You can cast your vote in the exhibition. It’s interesting to know how the public looks at this and they will eventually take this into account in their motivations.
Whatever the restorers do, it will always have to be ethical.
Which restoration option would you vote for?
‘Meet the Girl’
After our visit to the exhibition Facelifts & Makeovers we walk to another building where we can visit the permanent collection of the Mauritshuis. The permanent display contains the highlights from the collection, the so-called Rembrandts and Vermeers. We come face to face with Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’. What a beautiful artwork to see!
The Mauritshuis
The Mauritshuis was once built in the seventeenth century as a luxury residence, after that it was also a hotel for important guests at the Binnenhof and eventually the Mauritshuis became a museum in 1822.
Two-Hundredth Anniversary
Next year in 2022 will be the jubilee year of the Mauritshuis and the Mauritshuis will celebrate its two-hundredth anniversary. There will be many exhibitions on the program.
The Exhibition Facelifts & Makeovers can be seen until Sunday 9 January 2022.
Will you also come to the exhibition?
You can watch my VLOG video of our visit at the Mauritshuis here: The Hague | Mauritshuis, Exhibition Facelifts & Makeovers
Mauritshuis
Address:
Plein 29
2501 CM Den Haag
Nederland
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