The team of Atelier del Restauro recently completed the conservation and restoration of the titular statue of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary of Cospicua’s collegiate church, which is dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception (Il-Kunċizzjoni).

As the project sought to conserve and recover the statue’s original artistic value, the team adopted a conservative approach to address the work of art not only from an aesthetic point of view but first and foremost from the materials composing the statue. Throughout the project, the sculpture’s historical, social, religious and aesthetic values were taken into consideration.

The statue after the conservation treatments.The statue after the conservation treatments.

Prior to Cospicua’s present collegiate church, a small chapel built before the Great Siege of 1565 on the hill known as ‘the Hill of the Gardens’, served as the town’s parish church. On December 6, 1581, a confraternity dedicated to the Immaculate Conception was founded in the church. It became a parish church in 1586 and was expanded to cater for the increase in parishioners. In 1684, plans to build a new church were made on the design of Vincenzo Casanova. The new church was consecrated in 1732 and elevated to the status of a collegiate church in 1822.

The original statue of the Immaculate Conception was sculpted in wood in around 1680 by Suor Maria De Domenicis, a Carmelite Tertiary and a pupil of Mattia Preti, and later on in Rome, of Carlo Maratta. It is believed that she carved the statue from the trunk of a miraculous carob tree on which Our Lady is said to have appeared.

The present appearance of some works of art is different to the time they were made, and therefore not what the artists had intended. In most cases, locally, the aesthetic appearance of polychrome wooden sculptures was changed at a later date. The changes often happened more than once, especially in the case of titular statues; such renovations adapted the sculpture to the different tastes of the later periods.

Valentina Lupo cleaning the heavily overpainted hands of the statue, which are from the original 17th century sculpture.Valentina Lupo cleaning the heavily overpainted hands of the statue, which are from the original 17th century sculpture.

In 1905, proposals were made for the embellishment of the statue. Designs were prepared by the Cospicua-born Abram Gatt (1863-1944), for parts of the statue to be clad in silver. The statue was sent to the then renowned Milanese firm Antonio Ghezzi e Figli, who carried out the proposed alterations. A contract between the Cospicua chapter and Alfonso Barbara on behalf of the Ghezzi firm, defining the terms and conditions of the project, is presently found within the collegiate archives. The contract stated that:

• The Ghezzi firm should clad the statue in silver, excluding the head, hair and neck, the hands, feet and serpent.

• The head, neck and hair should not be altered; although the position of the head would have to be modified to fit the position of the new proposed body.

• The hands and feet should be made anew to better fit the new proposal.

• The serpent should retain the original head but modifications would be made to its body.

• The rest of the statue, including the crescent moon at the base of the statue, could be altered as required on the proposal.

• The silver used for the cladding of the statue should be of a millesimal fineness of 900 and all screws used should also be silver. All materials used to attach the cladding should be composed of silver and no other metal should be used.

• The total cost of the project should not exceed £240 and the total weight of silver used should be between 25 and 30kg.

• Finally, the statue was to be finished and returned by  May, and a fine of £50 would be incurred in the case of a late delivery.

The statue was brought back from Milan to Cospicua collegiate church on June 8, 1905. Recent investigations concluded that a hollow core was left beneath the silver cladding added to the statue during the 1905 intervention. The wooden head, hands and base of the original statue were detached and added to a newly constructed silver figure, made of separate sheets of silver screwed together. Some alterations were made to the face, hands and serpent accordingly to fit the newly renovated figure. At this time the wooden parts was also repainted.

After its return, the embellished statue was inaugurated on June 18, 1905, in grand celebrations led by Mgr Salvatore Grech that involved the statue being carried to the collegiate church from the church dedicated to Sta Margherita.

The original wooden statue of the Immaculate Conception, sculpted in wood around 1680 by Suor Maria De Domenicis.The original wooden statue of the Immaculate Conception, sculpted in wood around 1680 by Suor Maria De Domenicis.

During World War II, it was decided to transport the statue together with the titular painting and other valuable works of art to Birkirkara in order to protect them from the constant air raids on Cospicua. It was declared that if the Cospicua parish church and oratory were spared from destruction during the war, a pilgrimage would take place to bring the statue and titular painting back. And so it was that since the parish church was still standing after the war, on November 19, 1944, both works of art were brought back to Cospicua followed by crowds of devotees. The pilgrimage passed though Birkirkara, Ħamrun, Blata l-Bajda and Paola on its way to Cospicua.

In early 1986, artist Michael Camilleri Cauchi carried out an intervention on the statue of an aesthetical nature, namely the repainting of the face, hair, hands and feet and the serpent.

Another more recent intervention was carried out in 2005 by the late artist Renzo Gauci, and involved the retouching of the hands to disguise scratches caused by the jewellery.

Since no restoration intervention can revert the statue to its original (17th century) state, the project’s aim was to remove the layers of overpainting from the face, hair, hands and feet in order to arrive to the original paint layer applied in 1905 when the statue was redesigned by Abraham Gatt and covered in silver cladding marvelously worked in Milan by Antonio Ghezzi e Figli.

During the initial inspection of the statue, two fine cracks in the paint layer were noted – one on the Virgin’s forehead, and another at the lower part of the neck on the front of the statue. An accumulation of resin-based varnish on the right eye and cheek had oxidised with time and appeared as dark brown stains.

In a previous intervention the hair of the statue had been heavily overpainted in a flat, dark brown colour, which did not add to its aesthetical qualities. In addition, the varnish coating applied appeared to be very inhomogeneous, with some parts appearing matt and others appearing glossy.

Maria Grazia Zenzani during the pictorial integration of the statue’s face.Maria Grazia Zenzani during the pictorial integration of the statue’s face.

The statue’s hands and feet and serpent were also heavily overpainted. There were several abrasions of the paint and varnish layers on the fingers and around the wrists where the statue is adorned with several pieces of jewellery during the parish feast. The use of jewellery on the sculpture resulted in other damages and losses, detachments and cracks of the paint layer before it was overpainted in the 1990s.

Throughout the project, the sculpture’s historical, social, religious and aesthetic values were taken into consideration

In addition, a layer of superficial and embedded dust was present over the surface of the hands. This not only darkened the statue’s appearance but also attracted moisture towards its surface due to its hydroscopic properties. In addition, the dust and superficial debris acted as nutrients for biological growth, such as mould.  

The aim of the project was to clean the statue from the several overpaintings and uncover the polychromy applied when the statue was it rennovated by Gatt and the Ghezzi firm in 1905. The overpaintings had significantly changed the sculpture’s appearance, so the key goals of the treatment were to revert to the sculpture’s original look in 1905 and to preserve the original material to the greatest possible extent.

In order to identify the composition and the number of overpaintings, including the chemical composition of each, and to help find a safe way of removing all the added layers, scientific analysis had to be carried out. Three samples of the painting stratigraphy were taken from the face, hands and feet respectively. The samples were analysed in  a scientific laboratory in Florence in June and July 2018 by means of scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray analyser.

The results indicated that on the hand and feet an early 20th century polychromy was present underneath two layers of overpainting. The situation on the face was more complex because apart from two layers of overpainting, a thick layer of a synthetic and tenacious whitish ‘undercoat’ material (most probably applied in the intervention of the 1990s) was also identified.

These results indicated the working directions to be followed in the treatment of the painted surfaces. Several cleaning tests followed the development of a cleaning system. Accordingly, the surfaces were cleaned selectively. The removal of the ‘undercoat’ layer from the face without damaging the painted surface was the most demanding task of all the cleaning procedures.

However, prior to the cleaning intervention, as a first step the adhesion of the detachments was carried out. Tests were done to allow the proper softening of the thick scales of detaching paint in danger of cracking completely. The treatment continued with the use of a conservation-standard micro emulsion injected through insulin syringes underneath the detaching paint. This allowed the preparation to soften and get the right adhesion without the risk of breakage. The lowering and adhesion of the detachments was carried out through the use of a small, heated spatula.

The operations related to the cleaning phase were complex and laborious. The paint applied during the past interventions required a complicated cleaning treatment. The thick overpaintings and gesso additions were mechanically removed using small blades. Thick accumulations of varnish, including impregnated layers of dust and grime, where removed manually using small scalpel blades.

The complete removal of the overpaintings and stucco layers from a past restoration revealed the extent of the damage to the face, most probably caused in the 1980s when, while in procession, the statue accidentally hit a low wire, severely damaging the statue’s eyelids.

November 19, 1944. The statue of the Immaculate Conception being brought back during a pilgrimage from the Birkirkara collegiate church where it was kept during the war.November 19, 1944. The statue of the Immaculate Conception being brought back during a pilgrimage from the Birkirkara collegiate church where it was kept during the war.

A light blue coloured synthetic material was also found to be infilling the damages that had occurred to the face. This synthetic material was removed using small blades. Different solvent/detergent systems were used to soften the surface of the overpaints. The remains of overpaint were removed with using a scalpel and a solvent solution.

After the stucco additions done in the 1990s were removed, fragments of the original 17th century polychromy were visible on top of corrections done using gesso to the ears,  nasal lobes, nasal bridge, under the right eye and neck to slightly incline the face towards the left side. It is thought that these corrections to the face were done by Gatt  in the 1905 renovation and confirmed that the statue’s head is the one belonging to the previous 17th century statue.

Scientific analysis of the feet and hand indicated that they are from the original 17th century statue as traces of a 17th century polychromy was found.

The serpent’s head is also from the original statue; however, changes to the ears were made, and analysis indicated that the tail was completely replaced in the early 20th century renovation. The removal of the thick, dark green overpainting from the serpent revealed three different tones of green, including fine eyelashes painted around the eyes, a fine detail which was completely obscured in the past restorations.

With the elimination of the layers of overpaintings from the hair, abrasions could be seen on the statue’s surfaces probably attributable to a heavy past cleaning intervention. The total removal of the thick overpaint on the hair revealed a dark brownish-red hair colour.

The treatments continued with the infilling of the large amount of capillary cracks and lacunae. A flexible gesso-based infill mixed with a specific percentage of a heat-seal adhesive was devised by the team after several tests, in order to permit elasticity of the infills when movements of the wooden support occur. The infills were then levelled to the pictorial surface using fixed blades moistened in a hydrocarbon-based solvent.

Pictorial reintegration was carried out only on abrasions and lacunae to bring back the chromatic integrity of the polychromy by means of tempera colours through the use of the mimetic technique. Varnish colours were then used in fine glazes to refine the retouching carried out using the tempera colours.

Finally, the statue was varnished, using a synthetic resin with a high resistance to ageing and warm temperatures, including UV protection. A satin surface finish was given to protect the gilded and painted film and to saturate the colours.

From the start of the project the team was aware of the special connection and devotion the people of Cospicua have towards the blessed image of the Immaculate conception. During the project we wished to engage parishioners and anyone interested in the statue as much as possible. We wanted firstly to educate the public about the importance of professional conservation on such works of art and we also wanted to inform people about the findings and treatments on the statue.

The parish agreed to organise an open weekend on August 4 and 5, 2018, where people had the opportunity to see the statue in detail during the conservation process and ask the team questions. The event was an overwhelming success, with hundreds of visitors showing interest in the team’s work. The shows the strong ties Bormliżi have with the statue as a witness of their past and their forefathers.

We are proud to have worked with prudence and respect on this national treasure, and we are satisfied to have conserved and returned the statue to one historical period for the present and future generations to enjoy and revere.

Maria Grazia Zenzani and Valentina Lupo are restorers, conservators and directors of Atelier del Restauro Ltd.

All the materials used in the conservation and restoration of the statue have the common characteristic of reversibility. The project was performed in accordance with the ethical principles for the protection and preservation of a work of art following the code of ethics of the European Confederation of Conservator-Restorers’ Organisations (ECCO).

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