The secret of the painting of an unknown girl, who was given a name again after decades, is revealed by a new exhibition at the National Museum in Olomouc (VMO). During the restoration of the unknown and heavily damaged painting, experts gradually managed to find out the author and the name of the mysterious girl.
The new exhibition entitled Sister, which is currently taking place in the Mánes hall of the Olomouc National Museum, offers visitors an attractive story about the transformation of the painting by Josef Kessler, who painted his sister Pauline.
The painting was only labeled “Portrait of a young girl, artist unknown, second half of the 19th century, heavily damaged.”
This is how it was marked when it was transported from Šternberk to VMO in 1976.
“We didn’t know more. It may come as a surprise that this condition is a daily bread for the curators working in the museum. A visit to a painting depository is fundamentally different from a gallery tour. You can’t expect only gems in perfect condition. Mostly it is a colorful mosaic of works of different quality in different condition. But a bad condition can sometimes hide something very valuable,” described curator Michaela Čadilová.
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Aunt Bušinka
The aforementioned portrait was one of the artefacts examined by students of the field of restoration and conservation of works of art at the University of Pardubice as part of their bachelor theses. It came into the hands of student Markéta Svobodová, who discovered interesting facts about its history during the restoration of the work.
“The story that was revealed to me during the work was incredible. It’s impossible to directly describe the feeling, but I felt like I was in a detective story,” said the student. Gradually, it was possible to find out the author of the painting, the dating and the identity of the girl portrayed. The revelation of an old mystery on the canvas brought a new perspective to the story of the painter Josef Kessler and his family.
The restorers contacted living relatives who knew they had an important painter in their family. But the information about who is painted in both paintings surprised them.
“My dad had the painting hanging in his house from a young age and then everywhere they moved. They called the girl in the picture Aunt Bušinka because they thought she was the author’s aunt Libuša. We only learned from the restorer that it was the author’s sister Pauline, about whom we had no information in the family tree,” said one of the relatives, Milan Keslar from Brno.
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Portrait of Božena Němcová
The authors therefore named the entire exhibition Sister. In addition to this portrait, the author of which is the painter Josef Kessler, other works are part of the exhibition, including a portrait of Božena Němcová by Josef Vojtěch Hellich.
Visitors will also learn interesting information about how old works are restored and how experts restore them to their original beauty.
“Everybody hopes to find a treasure somewhere. Sometimes treasures are right in front of our noses and we just don’t see them. Sometimes it is enough to take a good look at what is hanging on the wall at home or what we have in the attic. And when the dust is cleaned or the darkened varnish is removed, the image suddenly changes its face. And sometimes they reveal something more,” said curator Michaela Čadilová.
The exhibition at the VMO is open until the end of June.
“I am very happy that it will allow visitors to see under the hood the otherwise invisible collection-making activity of museums, which aims to preserve the valuable cultural heritage of our country. The project is all the more valuable because it was carried out in cooperation with the University of Pardubice, specifically its renowned Faculty of Restoration,” highlighted Jakub Ráliš, director of the VMO.
Interesting facts about the painter of religious and historical paintings Josef Kessler
– was born on January 30, 1825 as the son of a tailor
– learned room painting and gilding
– in 1847 he was enrolled to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna
– Vienna has already remained his home, he opened a studio of historical paintings there
– he repeatedly returned to Loštice for longer creative stays
– in 1887 he was able to finish the altar cloth for St. Joseph’s Church in Palonín, a neighboring village of his native Loštice
– died at the premature age of 63 from tuberculosis in December 1887
