Der Weißenburger Altar

im Bayerischen Nationalmuseum München. Technologische Untersuchung und Restaurierung

Abstract

The “Weissenburger Altar” – Technological examination and restoration

The “Weissenburger Altar” exhibited at the Bavarian National Museum (Bayerisches Nationalmuseum) in Munich is a canopied altarpiece including a life-sized sculpture of the Holy Virgin in a halo of rays. Because of construction works in the museum the altar had to be removed in 2000. This was an opportunity to examine the used techniques and to prepare a proposal for conservation and restoration of the altar. Subsequently, the altarpiece was conserved and restored in the workshops of the Bavarian National Museum, and the two outer wings (which had been in storage since 1950) of the altarpiece were reattached. Discoloured brownish surface coating and overpainting, most of which had been applied after the wings had been taken off, had to be removed in order to return the altar once again to its previously harmonious look. Finally, spots of chipped paint and non-soluble older touch-ups were covered by the use of retouching dot-by-dot