The rediscovery of a “lost” replica

In the previous post we looked at Etienne Gantrel’s engraving and the Gobelins tapestry as tools for identifying some of the changes which have occurred to the NGV Poussin.They certainly suggested that a considerable amount of change has occurred in the sky of our painting, however they are of limited use for a conservator attempting to recover or reconstruct lost passages of original paint. So though Horace Buttery may have been aware of them when he restored the painting in 1960, he may well have chosen not to rely on them for his treatment.

Using copies to learn about lost information

When Horace Buttery cleaned the   Crossing of the Red Sea   in 1960, he encountered a painting which had suffered surface damage from previous cleaning attempts.He knew his job would be to reconcile the well preserved parts of the painting with those areas which were permanently affected by paint losses and abrasion to the surface, particularly in the sky. He was faced with the task of trying to recover some of the lost appearance of that crucial component of the painting. It is possible, but not likely, that he had access to copies of the painting that were made in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries.These copies could have provided him with some help in retrieving certain details which were now lost from the original.