Controversy surrounds restoration of 19th century sculptures

The restoration of an important set of 19th century sculptures from the Shrine of Our Lady of Prayer in the central northern Portuguese council of Oliveira do Hospital has been criticised by experts, despite the fact that other officials have expressed their “satisfaction” at the results.
“This case is very serious,” said André Remígio, speaking to the Lusa news agency. “The most basic rules of restoration have been broken.”
Remígio, the administrator of a social network group that brings together curators of art and art restorers, developed the project at the shrine in 2007, an initiative that involved Miguel Vieira Duque and students from the Senior University of Coimbra.
He likens the controversy to that of the case of Cecília Gimenez from Spain who painted over a 19th century wall painting without having the requisite skills needed in order to restore the valuable mural.
“But she undertook that work in all innocence,” Remígio pointed out. The Shrine of Our Lady of Prayer is different, he added. Miguel Vieira Duque has painted over the sculptures “as if they were bricolage” and demonstrated “a pathetic knowledge of the process” that resulted in history being “deleted”.
However, Basílio Martins, the treasurer of the Shrine of Our Lady of Prayer brotherhood, the shrine’s custodian, said he was “satisfied” with the restoration and recalled that “everything was previously damaged and that the statues were without fingers or eyes”.
Martins has not accused the restoration team of any wrongdoing, he told Lusa and stressed that pilgrims visiting the shrine have themselves commented that it’s a shame the rest of the sanctuary will not be restored in a similar way.
The brotherhood’s treasurer explained that the “sanctuary was poor” but admitted that if more funding was available then “we would be happy to see the same type of restoration carried out in the sanctuary’s other chapels”.
The sanctuary, located in the parish of Aldeia das Dez, has nearly 60 pieces of sculpture in various chapels, “all in need of restoration”.
According to Martins, around €10,000 has been spent on restoration work since 2007, with 13 sculptures dating from the 19th century so far restored. The pieces are life-sized and depict the Last Supper with the twelve apostles.
After being contacted by Lusa, Miguel Vieira Duque stressed that although students had participated in all phases of the restoration, the work was entirely his responsibility.
“The final results have filled me with pride,” he said. He added that he’d worked in the field of art restoration for 22 years and had “never” been in a similar situation.
Similarly, a spokesperson from the Museu da Fundação Dionísio Pinheiro in Águeda confirmed that the photographs of the restored statues released to the press were “not reliable” renditions of the work and as a result were “open to criticism”. However, this should not lead to a “personal prosecution” of Miguel Vieira Duque.