Propuesta de actuación ante la problemática de conservación de la escultura lígnea barroca napolitana

Abstract

The territorial bonds, which became apparent in the centuries corresponding to the Neapolitan Viceroyalty under the Spanish rule (16th � 18th centuries), not only had an economic and commercial influence, but also affected the Culture of Naples and Spain in a much broader sense. Thus, they influenced the development of religious demonstrations, and consequently the expression of this religiosity through Art. In order to protect and preserve the cultural heritage, a profound study of all the fields that encompass it is indispensable. Even though marble is the basic material used in the Italian peninsula, the Spanish heritage in Naples led to the use of wood supports. This Southern Italian wooden sculpture, which had a great importance in its time, since then has had a secondary role, up until its reevaluation in mid-20th century, when its research and study became widespread in the last decades of the century. In the conservation practice the knowledge from a historical point of view is just as essential as the enquiry in its technical and preservative characteristics. Even though the wooden sculpture in Naples and in the entire region of Campania has similarities with the Spanish wooden sculpture, it can also suffer from a unique set of problems of conservation caused by the particularities that surround it and influence its process of preservation either positively or negatively. During the 20th century, the Baroque wooden sculpture in Naples has experienced a slight decline reflected in its lamentable state of conservation. One of the reasons for this is the lack of importance placed on such type of work, perhaps because sculpture in general has been considered to be a second-rate artistic discipline or, perhaps, because wood � as the material used for the support of the sculpture, has been valued significantly less than marble or bronze used for other statues, especially with regards to their preservation. Another reason why the wooden sculpture has been left to such a deplorable state of conservation is its religious functionality by those who have been preserving it. In most cases the statue has been claimed by the faithful, therefore it has been exposed to unsupervised handling, inside and outside religious spaces. Due to what was �fashionable� at the time, numerous modifications of morphological and esthetic nature have been carried out on the images. The deterioration has also increased during continuous liturgies, which saw a constant use of the images, and as a consequence, instead of repairing them, these unwise interferences only worsened their condition. To add to the previously discussed circumstances of anthropic nature, it is necessary to discuss another cause, directly related to natural phenomena, the high seismic risk. Not only the wooden sculpture but the entire tangible heritage in this area of Italy is exposed to such seismic risk. The earthquake of 1980, that took place in the southern central part of Campania, caused some serious damage to the cultural heritage of this area and it became the starting point for the restoration of a lot of images that have suffered the consequences of the earthquake. This doctoral thesis attempts to provide a methodological proposal of conservation of the Baroque wooden sculpture of the late 16th and early 18th centuries and thus contribute to the patrimonial investigation. Therefore it provides answers to the problems of preservation, which can be solved by keeping the deterioration factors under control and, through direct interference with the sculpture with conservative and curative end result in mind.