Anastasis: Research in Medieval Culture and Art (Nov 2015)
Sucevița Monastery – The overpainting from narthex and exonarthex. Technique of execution and the methodology of removal
Abstract
The overpaintings found on the frescoes from Sucevița Monastery, date from periods that remain uncertain due to the rarity of written documents. Probably they were made because of the degradations that occurred in time or because of tastes. These interventions are made in oil technique or tempera, for that reason we can date them around the 19th century when there was this tendency of painting Orthodox churches in oil. The overpaintings are placed in key position, on the lunette, facilitating access from exonarthex to the narthex or from narthex to the tomb room. In terms of iconography, the overpaintings covered representations like: Anastasis / the Ressurection; The Holy Trinity of the New Testament and Virgin Mary with the thief represented in heaven (detail from the Last Judgement). The present paper tries to make a comparison among the three surfaces with overpainting, bringing technical arguments regarding the differences between them. At the same time, the paper presents details about the methodology applied to cleanning the overpaintings and it highlights the original image that can bring nuances in the iconographic interpretation.
