[MR] History Blog: 15th C. Painting Conservation Video

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

Tuesday's History Blog featured a story about the conservation of a 15th
century painting by the Venetian artist Antonio Vivarini. The painting in
question is today known as "Saint Monica Converts Her Dying Husband", now
in the Detroit Institute of Art. The wood panel painting is one of five
known to survive from the footer scenes below an altar in the Venetian
Church of Santo Stefano.

Saint Monica had a fairly popular cult following in the middle ages. The
saint was the mother of the future Saint Augustine. Her husband, Patricius,
remained a pagan until his deathbed conversion, as depicted in the panel.
Her son Augustine was a trial for Monica (which is one reason why she is
described as "long suffering" in the Blog). It took her 17 years and the
help of Saint Ambrose to finally end Augustine's reckless and lazy
lifestyle.

Age has not been kind to the painting, and two large splits had developed
as the wood base took on a pronounced dome shape. Accompanying the History
Blog story of this painting is a brief professional-quality video showing
how the cracks were repaired in the DIA's conservation lab.

You can enjoy the story and see the film at
http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/58988 .

Wikipedia has a very short bio of Antono Vivarini at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivarini . Many paintings associated
with this artist and his studio can be viewed at
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Antonio_Vivarini . This
includes "Nacinta di Sant'agostino" and the "Matrimonio di Santa Monica",
two more of the surviving paintings from the Santa Monica set.

Finally, a bio of Saint Monica is found at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Monica .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆