This is really quite an unusual object
as there very few known works
painted on marble.
There are examples on slate but not on marble.
It measures 68 cm high by 53 wide
and is 2 cm thick.
It was painted for the Emperor Charles V.
The Emperor himself asked Titian
to paint it on a stone support.
The use of this white marble support is interesting and uncommon,
there are in fact very few works painted on white marble
and even fewer of this type,
which is also painted on the reverse
to imitate a red marble,
with its veins, like an imperial marble.
When it arrived in the restoration studio
the work had a very opaque, very dirty appearance
with illegible areas
that could not be clearly seen
and a loss of depth and volume.
The work seemed to be
in a fairly poor state of conservation.
There were what seemed to be superficial scratches,
as if it had been abraded in the past.
We were not aware of any previous restoration
but there must have been as it was damaged.
Technical analyses were carried out
in the laboratory of the Museo del Prado's
restoration department.
We could see that this painting
had no priming,
as found with canvases or wood panels,
but it may have had a layer of hot oil applied
to the surface to close the pores.
It is painted directly onto the marble.
After the analyses were carried out in the Museum's technical department,
work started on its restoration.
We started on the restoration, firstly cleaning the surface
as it had a large amount of incrusted dust
and smoke stuck to it, possibly due in part
to the fire in the Alcázar,
as we know the painting was there.
Furthermore, given that this is a devotional work,
it must have had candles around it,
particularly at the bottom,
where it was more damaged.
Oxidised varnishes were then removed.
It didn't have excessive coats of varnish
but they had darkened and yellowed.
In some areas, particularly the Virgin's veil,
a considerable amount of dirt
was very incrusted in the texture
and in some brushstrokes,
as varnish had been applied on top.
So, with the use of a scalpel, very gradually,
and also using a dentist's tool,
we very patiently
removed these small black specks
that were really spoiling the surface.
This area, the tunic, was totally covered over
by a grey-brown covering
which didn't allow the textures and tones
of these colours to be seen properly.
The area of the blues
that create the shadows in this part are smalt,
apart from the lapis lazuli,
which retains its colour marvellously well,
but blue smalt alters over time.
These areas had really altered and blackened.
But they could be revived
and Titian's original colours reinstated.
We also had to remove it down here at the bottom
where there was a large loss,
a crack that may have opened up
due to the heat
which must have affected this part
due to the special pigments
or the drying agents that Titian used.
The area that I mentioned earlier, the cracks,
had been filled in with a wax stucco, resin,
which we had to remove as it was invading adjoining areas,
and original areas which this stucco was concealing.
Having completed the cleaning, we applied more stucco
to fill in these cracks,
which were actually quite deep,
essentially in the area of the Virgin's elbow.
In this case we applied a calcium sulphate stucco
of the type that we use
in other paintings on canvas and panel.
Having applied and smoothed down the stucco
we then reintegrated losses, firstly with watercolour,
and after we applied a varnish
with a brush and natural resin varnishes,
which are highly reversible a
nd much closer to those used by the artist.
After varnishing
we applied a second layer of pigments
using a synthetic resin,
which is again highly reversible and easy to apply.
To finish off, a further reintegration
adjusted the tones
with the aim of completing the restoration.
Its brushstrokes have reappeared, its subtle gradations,
and the transparent effects of coloured shadows
of the type only Titian could create.
The light, which enters from the bottom
and moves upwards,
is important for this work.
Titian made use of the white ground
of the marble's surface, starting from this surface
and applying glazes and gradations of colour,
one on top of the other
in order to create
his typical marvellous tones.
The support also creates
a special monumentality:
a hardness of the forms of a sculptural nature,
almost three-dimensional.
This is also to be found to some extent in the figure,
which is monumental
and has that sculptural appearance,
and on the other hand this sensibility
and conveys this emotion,
not only in the face
but also in the hands,
in the expressivity of the hands;s.
the gap between them
seems like a real space.
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