restored between 2010 and 2013

History

4000 square metres of decorated ceilings

The decorated vaulted ceilings in the museum cover an area of more than 4000 square metres and are among the biggest coherent decorative works of this type in Europe. All the ceilings on the ground floor and first floor are painted, representing altogether more than 40 galleries, along with the corridors and stairways.

Building and Decoration

It was Thorvaldsen’s architect, Michael Gottlieb Bindesbøll, who had the idea that the colourful museum building and the richly decorated ceilings should form a powerful contrast to Thorvaldsen’s sculptures. The museum was built between 1839 and 1848, and the ceilings were painted during the period 1843-1848.

Inspiration from Pompeii

Bindesbøll wanted quite literally to recreate a building from antiquity, and so the ceilings
were primarily decorated in a “Pompeiian” style, i.e. inspired by the decorations found in ancient Roman houses in Pompeii (which was excavated from 1748) and Herculanum (excavated from 1738) and in the surviving ceilings in the ancient ruins in Rome (for instance the Emperor Nero’s palace). In a number of large books containing illustrations of the ancient decorations, often in hand-coloured prints, Bindesbøll and the other artists participating in the work could see reproductions of compositions, patterns and details in the ancient buildings. And in many cases the motifs in the ceilings in Thorvaldsens Museum are directly copied from these.

Made by Thorvaldsen’s Younger Colleagues

The decoration of the ceilings in Thorvaldsens Museum was undertaken by a team of over 40 mainly younger artists, representing painters, sculptors and stuccateurs. Many of them were still students in the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen at the same time as they worked in the museum. The ceilings in the individual galleries were always the work of several artists, each with their own special skills. One of the greatest names in Danish Golden Age art, the painter Christen Købke (1810-1848), also contributed to the decoration, and his work can be seen in Galleries 2, 4, 5 and 6.

Fresco, Secco and Modelling

The techniques employed when the museum’s decorated ceilings were originally made encompassed fresco painting (i.e. the colours are painted on a layer of wet plaster), secco painting (painting on a dry plaster surface), decorations partly cast in plaster and freely modelled stucco reliefs and details.

Present condition

Restoration in the 1930s

Throughout the 160 years of the history of Thorvaldsens Museum there have naturally been both major and minor restorations of many of the ceilings. In one major restoration in the 1930s the pale ground between the motifs was sometimes unfortunately repainted in order to cover over a probably very dirty background. Unfortunately, the pale paint cannot be removed again. Happily, however, no attempt was made to “freshen up” the actual motifs, and so they can be cleaned and restored today.

A Need for Thorough Cleaning and Restoration

The ceilings are in need of a thorough cleaning and restoration. There is damage of many kinds in the ceilings. Surface dirt is to be found everywhere, and the layer of dirt is often very uneven on account of the mechanical and superficial way in which the ceilings have been wiped down. In all the ceilings, cracks of varying width have formed in the layers of paint, plaster and stucco, and in places the surface levels have been disturbed on either side of the cracks. Earlier efforts to fill older cracks have often been carried out in a rough and inappropriate manner and can now clearly be seen. In many places layers of plaster, paint and stucco have peeled off and are now hanging loose. And in a few places it is still possible to see traces of earlier water damage, which has been a constant problem through the entire life of the museum.

Restoration methods and potentials

Two Ceilings at a Time

The cleaning and restoration of the decorated ceilings in Thorvaldsens Museum will be carried out between January 2010 and December 2013. Work will be undertaken on two ceilings at a time, and visitors will be able to move about in the museum as usual, although a small number of Thorvaldsen’s sculptures will not be accessible while the work is being carried out.

Preservation rather than Renewal

The restoration has two main objectives: The first is to ensure that the ceilings are preserved for later generations. The second is to aim for restoring the ceiling decorations to a condition as close as possible to the original. It is a fundamental principle of the restoration that preservation is given precedence over renewal.

The process of restoration will principally concentrate on cleaning away any dirt on the surface and making good the cracks that have appeared and also on correcting and removing inappropriate earlier restoration work.

Cleaning and Restoration Methods

The layer of grime on the ceilings is removed by dry cleaning with a special sponge that has been developed for cleaning fresco surfaces. Loose original plaster and paint is fixed to the layer beneath by means of chalk/hydraulic chalk and mainly animal and vegetable glues. Cracks emerging through plaster and paint are filled in with new stucco, which will be touched up using a special method in which the paint is built up by means of short, parallel brush strokes with water paint. Older efforts at repainting are corrected by touching up mainly with pastel crayon consisting of pigment and chalk. In cases of irremovable surface miscolouring a similar attempt is made optically to moderate it by touching it up with pastel crayon.

Continuous Documentation

Throughout the restoration process, information will be gathered concerning the composition of the materials used in the decorations and the methods by which they were made. It is important that all observations and treatments should be documented so that we can share our experiences with others, and so that later generations may know what procedures we have followed.

Financing and participants

The extensive work of cleaning and restoring the unique ceilings in Thorvaldsens Museum has been made possible by a large donation from the foundation A.P. Møller og Chastine McKinney-Møllers Fond til almene Formaal along with a special grant from Copenhagen Municipality.

Conservator: Bo Kierkegaard
Architect: Charlotte Felding
Responsibility for the building: Copenhagen Municipality, Thorvaldsens Museum