Before its exhibition, the Portrait of Magellan went through a process of heavy restoration
Havana, March 25 (RHC) The National Museum of Fine Arts of Cuba reported that the Latin American Art Collection today preserves the work "Portrait of Magellan", which has benefited from a restoration process.
The institution exhibits this piece for the first time, as part of the exhibition Four hundred years of Mexican art in the collections of the National Museum of Fine Arts, as stated on its Facebook profile.
The technical sheet indicates that the work is from the 18th-century New Spain School, an Oil on canvas measuring 133 x 97 centimeters.
The conservator of the work, Ernesto Pérez del Río, noted that prior to its restoration, the painting showed acute oxidation of the varnish, bulges and loosening of the support, numerous crooked repaints and a tear of the support in the lower right area.
The restoration process began with the correction of the bulges, detachments and tears in the textile support. Once the painting was stabilized, the varnish was removed by chemical means, which revealed a series of elements hidden by the repainting.
Among other actions, the missing parts were also coated to level the surface of the painting and varnish it again. The reinstatement of color allowed the piece to recover its aesthetic qualities to signify a time of expansion and discoveries of new perspectives.
Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) was a Portuguese soldier and navigator who, in the service of Charles I, began the expedition in 1519 to reach the East Indies by crossing the Pacific to open a commercial route.
During the voyage he discovered the natural navigable channel that today is called the Strait of Magellan, carrying out the first navigation of European origin from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, until then called the South Sea.
This expedition, in which Magellan died in 1521 in the Philippines, became the first circumnavigation of the Earth when one of his ships, captained by Juan Sebastián Elcano, returned to Spain in 1522 by sailing west across the Indian Ocean and bordering Africa. (Source: PL)
