Table Of? NIMAS and the pulpit of the Chapel of New Lucena Ampuyenta

The last April took place in the Chapel of San Pedro de Alcantara Ampuyenta presenting The restoration works have been carried out in two of the most representative of the rich heritage and artistic whole of the chapel: the pulpit and the box? NIMAS.

About half a hundred residents came to hear the explanation of the restoration work carried out by the charge of the work, Chus Morante.

As we begin the explanation of the restoration work Chus Morante, responsible for the restoration, told the audience the details of a work which has focused on recovering the Pulpit and the Table? NIMAS of the hermitage of San Pedro de Alcantara two elements that were badly damaged over time due to inefficient or nonexistent and conservation work carried out previously on these goods, since they were created at different times of the eighteenth century.

Both works are part of the rich artistic collection of the Hermitage of La Ampuyenta, temple founded in 1681 and declared a BIC by the Canarian Government in 1991 in the Monument category. This important legacy includes up to 16 different paintings, mostly allegorical figure of St. Peter, and a reredos, several sculptures, the poles of the saint, and so on.

It is important desatacar the iconographic representation of San Pedro in the interior of the chapel, whose image is represented in nine paintings. Devotion to San Pedro de Alcantara reaches its apogee with his canonization in 1669, so that the cult he comes also to Fuerteventura, where it then existed only Franciscan convent in the town of Betancuria order in which reform had to see the momentum San Pedro itself.

TABLE? NIMAS

This picture of souls, whose author is still unknown, is one of 12 that are still preserved in the various churches and chapels of the island, like the rest, representing the theme of this type of allegorical paintings of the Last Judgement. We know that the painting was made in the eighteenth century, and which has the particularity to include San Pedro de Alcantara, patron of a chapel that features numerous paintings representing this saint canonized in 1669.

In the early eighties, the painting was without frame and the canvas folded over the sacristy, which was rescued to do some early conservation treatments. The oil was in poor condition due to adverse factors such as weather, or bad store and manipulate, which had caused the loss of color and to a large extent, the general deterioration of a work that stands out for its remarkable quality, richness of treatment details and colors.

The restoration work included a review of their status, cleaning the front and back of the picture, the tension of the canvas, fabric graft placement in the most eroded, the reintegration of the preparation with a layer of stucco very similar to the original, the reintegration of the paint layer (watercolor technique with finishing touches with pigments bound with varnish) and, finally, the application of a spray varnish.

PULPIT

This pulpit is one of 17 that are conserved in the different chapels and churches on the island, and certainly one of those who have a higher quality of execution.

Made of painted wood and gold, consists of a hexagonal platform with railings and a gate is closed with four-sided, with three caissons each.

Each Casetón represents one of the twelve apostles, who accompanies a poster that flies over the head of each disciple of Christ with his name and an inscription of the creed. This pulpit was made in the eighteenth century, moving from simple, straight lines can be ascribed to a Rococo chinoiserie. Stresses in this work the high quality of color, polished, and techniques, highlighting the detailed floral and bird decoration in the slats.

On the staircase appears a change to this line, he uses a tempera technique, with less bright colorful, without gold, and decorated marble limited based on blue and red lines on a light background, which suggests that the decoration of the chancel and the ladder was made by different authors.

The aging of the wood and the loss of adhesion of the layers needed for urgent intervention, since his condition had been aggravated by the attack of borers, volumetric losses and introduction of elements foreign to the work.

Recovery efforts of this work focused on the consolidation actions of the polychrome and gilding, treatment against wood boring insects destroying or bottle, the consolidation of the elements detached or misplaced, the surface cleaning of dirt adhering in inside and outside of the chancel and the stairs, cleaning the original metal elements, the reintegration of the preparation with a layer of stucco similar to the original composition, the reintegration of the polychrome and gilding and varnishing to ensure final protection.



Source: Fuerteventura Magazine Today

...