DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.55207#0016
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8 THE IMPERIAL PORTRAITS OF THE SOUTH GALLERY
May 1935. Final consolidation and cleaning were terminated in October
I938-
These figures became known to the Fossati during their renovation of the
Mosque in the reign of Sultan Abdulmecid between 1847 and 1849, together
with another figure which they identified as that of Alexander, brother of
Leo VI (Pl. XXXVII). We have not yet found this last figure and, from
the presence of plaster later than the Fossati and evidence of thorough testing,
we are reluctantly compelled to believe that it was shaken down by the
devastating earthquake which destroyed so many other mosaic paintings in
Haghia Sophia on the 10th of July 1894. Copies that the Fossati made of
the imperial panels, before concealing them beneath the plaster which we have
just removed, are fortunately—by the courtesy of Dr. and Madame Napo
Fernando de’ Torriani—reproduced in this Report, the original drawing in
water-colours having come down to Madame De’ Torriani from her grand-
father, Giuseppe Fossati, in the family collections still at Morcote in Switzer-
land, the birthplace of these illustrious men.
It will be observed by a glance at the Fossati sketch and a comparison with
the mosaics which we have uncovered that our work has consisted of disclosure
and cleaning but not of restoration or other falsification [2].
A casting method is used for reproducing these mosaics in colour. First a
soft brush, sometimes a sponge, dipped in water and squeezed out, is passed
over the mosaics, giving the surface even less moisture than is observable on
the interior walls of the building on a summer day of high humidity. On this
moistened area two or three smooth slieets of cellucotton are then placed and
tapped gently with the tip of the brush or sponge, so that the material takes the
exact impression of the cubes. Successive layers of the same paper follow for a
backing and this impressed pad, carefully removed from the wall and hardened
with shellac, is used as the mould for making the plaster cast which is subse-
quently painted from the original mosaic. This method of recording the mosaics
has perhaps a higher degree of accuracy than that of colouring photographs
and tracings, since it reproduces the actual configurations of the tessellae, at
the same time securing equal and absolute safety for the originals. An exact
rendering of these figures is a task to be performed in terms of changing light
as well as of colour and is impossible of achievement. But in coloured casts
and in the skilful colour plates illustrating this Report, value and colour have
been balanced to approach as nearly as possible at the moment the unattainable
qualitative and affective spirit of the mosaics [3].
May 1935. Final consolidation and cleaning were terminated in October
I938-
These figures became known to the Fossati during their renovation of the
Mosque in the reign of Sultan Abdulmecid between 1847 and 1849, together
with another figure which they identified as that of Alexander, brother of
Leo VI (Pl. XXXVII). We have not yet found this last figure and, from
the presence of plaster later than the Fossati and evidence of thorough testing,
we are reluctantly compelled to believe that it was shaken down by the
devastating earthquake which destroyed so many other mosaic paintings in
Haghia Sophia on the 10th of July 1894. Copies that the Fossati made of
the imperial panels, before concealing them beneath the plaster which we have
just removed, are fortunately—by the courtesy of Dr. and Madame Napo
Fernando de’ Torriani—reproduced in this Report, the original drawing in
water-colours having come down to Madame De’ Torriani from her grand-
father, Giuseppe Fossati, in the family collections still at Morcote in Switzer-
land, the birthplace of these illustrious men.
It will be observed by a glance at the Fossati sketch and a comparison with
the mosaics which we have uncovered that our work has consisted of disclosure
and cleaning but not of restoration or other falsification [2].
A casting method is used for reproducing these mosaics in colour. First a
soft brush, sometimes a sponge, dipped in water and squeezed out, is passed
over the mosaics, giving the surface even less moisture than is observable on
the interior walls of the building on a summer day of high humidity. On this
moistened area two or three smooth slieets of cellucotton are then placed and
tapped gently with the tip of the brush or sponge, so that the material takes the
exact impression of the cubes. Successive layers of the same paper follow for a
backing and this impressed pad, carefully removed from the wall and hardened
with shellac, is used as the mould for making the plaster cast which is subse-
quently painted from the original mosaic. This method of recording the mosaics
has perhaps a higher degree of accuracy than that of colouring photographs
and tracings, since it reproduces the actual configurations of the tessellae, at
the same time securing equal and absolute safety for the originals. An exact
rendering of these figures is a task to be performed in terms of changing light
as well as of colour and is impossible of achievement. But in coloured casts
and in the skilful colour plates illustrating this Report, value and colour have
been balanced to approach as nearly as possible at the moment the unattainable
qualitative and affective spirit of the mosaics [3].