Following the restoration of the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta, Allied Newspapers sponsored the restoration of Lord Strickland’s statue that greets visitors to the garden. Conservator-restorer Ingrid Ross walks Ramona Depares through the process.
A bronze statue of former Prime Minister Lord Strickland is a familiar sight for the Upper Barrakka Gardens regulars. Now, the larger-than- life-size work has been restored thanks to an Allied Newspapers’ initiative that saw conservator-restorer Ingrid Ross carry out a painstaking and holistic renovation process.
The statue is by Antonio Sciortino, one of Malta’s leading sculptors. He died in 1947. Other works by Sciortino are the Great Siege Monument and his Les Gavroches.
“The statue offers an extremely life-like portrayal of Lord Strickland wearing his morning dress and holding his homburg in his left hand. His overcoat rests over his left arm behind his homburg. However, time took its toll and the different materials were showing deterioration,” Ross says.
The statue lies on a pedestal that consists of various cubical panels and shapes, with the front panel of the pedestal carrying the inscription ‘Lord Strickland G.C.M.G., Count Della Catena, 1861-1940’.
Ross explains that the first step in the process involved a holistic assessment that determined all deteriorating factors. Once this was done, the restorer could start work on the monument itself.
“Both the bronze part and the pedestal required various mechanical and chemical cleaning tests. I ascertained the safest, least intrusive, and most effective way to get rid of external deposits such as calcium, corrosion accretions, graffiti and so forth.”
Once the surface was cleaned down to the original patina, coatings were applied to reduce the attack of aggressive pollutants on the surface. However, the weather turned out to be the biggest obstacle to a speedy process.
“Many days were too windy to work. I also depended on external sources for a power supply and water, so if these weren’t available then I couldn’t work.”
The aim of a true conservation strategy is not to create any new artistic impression of the piece, but to reduce the deteriorating effects, preferably in a passive manner.
“The surrounding environment also affects restoration. For example, nearby trees need to be regularly pruned – this would help reduce the dropping of the acidic fruit on the monument, thereby preventing further damage.”
Another step in the restoration involved removing deposits which might cause harm and applying protective coatings to reduce the effect of environmental aggressors.
Besides restoring the monument, the restoration process did yield one particularly interesting find.
During the cleaning process, at the base on the pedestal, Ross discovered an undecipherable inscription.
“The inscription is set in typically ‘Fascist’ script. The letters are not well formed so it does not really make sense. Sometimes materials were reused in the past, so initially I thought this was some recycled part.”
Ross consulted several publications but she did not find anything that could shed light on it. Fellow art historians confessed themselves equally baffled.
“In fact Lord Strickland was anti-Fascist, so the garbled script at the base of his feet in the soil might actually be a mockery of this political movement.”
Ross smiles as something occurs to her.
“Who knows, maybe in those days politics was approached with smart, polite humour!”