In the guts of the Royal Collections Gallery: this is how the forgotten Holy Week altar by Ventura Rodríguez is restored

Which angel do these bits of wings belong to?

And what shape are the fingers in that box?

When were these little angel heads added to the set?

Questions like these, some unanswered, have arisen in recent weeks in the large room dedicated to restoration work in the basement of the future Royal Collections Gallery, the new museum with National Heritage works that will open in Madrid in the second semester of this year.

Some questions that are addressed to a large wooden monument in green and reddish tones, about nine meters high by six meters wide and about 1,500 kilograms in weight.

It is an ephemeral work, which was only used during Holy Week, specifically it was mounted for Holy Thursday.

After,

it was cut up again and kept until the following year in the Royal Monastery of La Encarnación, which is located a few meters from the Royal Palace.

The monument had now been without use or destination for more than half a century, until a few months ago the nuns of the monastery themselves addressed those responsible for Royal Collections: "Why don't they take this thing that has been here for so long over there?".

General view of the room of the Royal Collections Gallery, on December 15, where a large Holy Week altar that was in a basement of the Monastery of La Encarnación, in Madrid, is being restored.

Andrea Comas

Detail of one of the two sibyls that decorate the Eucharistic altar of the Monastery of La Encarnación. Andrea Comas (AP)

The restorer Beatriz Burreros works on some cherubs in the monument designed by the architect Ventura Rodríguez, the best Spanish master builder of the 18th century.Andrea Comas

Plans for the restoration of the altar drawn from the drawing of the original design by Ventura Rodríguez (the one in the center). Andrea Comas

The restorer Marta Fernández de los Ríos works on a framework for the restoration of the ephemeral Holy Week monument of the Monastery of La Encarnación, where it has been stored for the last half century.Andrea Comas

The cabinetmaker Miguel Ángel Ortega and the restorer Marta Fernández de los Ríos move a sibyl in the restoration room of the Royal Collections Gallery.Andrea Comas

The restorer Marta Fernández de los Ríos opens the urn of the monument to show its interior decoration.Andrea Comas

Marta Fernández de los Ríos, left, Beatriz Burreros, the cabinetmaker Miguel Ángel Ortega, right, and Juan Andrés Martínez are preparing to place one of the altarpieces.Andrea Comas

The historian José Luis Sancho talks with the restorer Marta Fernández de los Ríos about the possible placement of a piece in the Easter monument.

When it is finished, it will be exhibited in the future Gallery of the Royal Collections, in Madrid.

Andrea Comas

To fully understand this puzzle, one must look back to the 18th century, when the church of the monastery, founded by Felipe III, was splendidly decorated.

In the process of investigating this forgotten great Eucharistic altar, the historian of National Heritage José Luis Sancho Gaspar has identified the drawing of the original project for this monument, signed but not dated: "It was designed by the architect Ventura Rodríguez, who had been in charge of all the decoration of the church from 1755. Regarding the project, few variations were introduced in the original realization, but there were others in the following two centuries”, he stated on December 15, while inspecting the pieces under restoration, disassembled from the set and numbered, as if they were a gigantic Lego set.

More information

The Gallery of the Royal Collections will open in the summer of 2023 after a succession of delays since 2015

The fact that Ventura Rodríguez (1717-1785) is the author is a surprising discovery.

"He is the best Spanish architect of the 18th century, who worked as second to Juan Bautista Sacchetti in the execution of the Royal Palace."

When Rodríguez designed the now-recovered monument, he “was professionally in a great moment;

until King Carlos III [his reign begins in 1759] arrived in Madrid and threw him and his boss, Sacchetti, putting Sabatini in his place, ”he adds.

"Rodríguez will then work throughout Spain, including the capital, but he no longer does anything on behalf of the king."

Original drawing by the architect Ventura Rodríguez of the Eucharistic altar for the Royal Monastery of La Encarnación. NATIONAL HERITAGE

"This monument is of excellent quality and has been practically completely preserved," says the conservator of the monastery, Leticia Sánchez, by phone, of a work that was probably carried out "between 1765 and 1775 by the hands of stuccoists, carvers... all belonging to the Royal Workshops.

This work came to life only on Holy Thursday, the day of the celebration of the Lord's Supper, when the officiant was in charge of the liturgy of the sacrament of the Eucharist.

"The priest would go up a ladder and place the holy sacrament in the chest of the monument," says Sancho.

"It is rare that scenic monuments of this type are preserved and even more anomalous that it was the work of such an important architect."

Works of this type had their splendor in the Baroque.

In the case of the Church of the Incarnation, it was used for two centuries, until the end of the 1960s, when due to the reform approved by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) "these monuments fell into disuse", adds the historian.

The restorer Beatriz Burreros holds an angel from the Holy Week altar of the Monastery of La Encarnación in a nave of the Royal Collections Gallery in Madrid.

Around him, other pieces of the monument. Andrea Comas

It has also been found that "pieces were added to the original project by Ventura Rodríguez, such as the small heads of angels", fastened with crude nails and which do not seem to match much with the rest of the work where they are placed.

The investigations indicate that they probably came from other assemblies and that it was decided to reuse them in the one of the Encarnación.

Were they added during the execution of Rodríguez's project?

Did the nuns do it on their own at some point?

"It was commonplace, these are monuments that were never set up in the same way, something like what happens with nativity scenes and their figures," stresses the conservator of the monastery.

For the last half century it has been stored in the monastery.

"It was properly installed in a basement, without humidity, but what is not used degrades," says Sánchez, who highlights the artistic quality of the figures of the two sibyls (wise women): "Their silver is marvelous," as well as the angels from above.

It is known more or less how the set was assembled from the drawing of the original design and from a 1964 photograph kept by the nuns, although the image is in black and white and of poor quality.

“The monument was arranged in four tiers, flanked by the two sibyls and two young angels.

On the steps, the urn intended to house the Blessed Sacrament, surrounded by more angels and a glow of golden wood, and all this crowned by a large cross supported by two other angels.

Sanchez explains.

The sculptures are made of solid wood painted silver.

"The state of conservation, as regards the structure, was bad due to the manipulations when assembling and disassembling it every year", points out the cabinetmaker Miguel Ángel Ortega, who highlights the qualities of the materials, as well as the polychromy.

“The attack by xylophages has forced the whole to be disinfected in a special chamber, and the fact that the work was in its original enclave, probably embedded in an area with stairs, had caused it to lack stability.

So we have had to carry out consolidation work, a job that lasted almost half a year.

It must be taken into account that 14 people have been needed to move it”.

The restorer Marta Fernández de los Ríos works on a framework for the restoration of the Holy Week monument of the Monastery of La Encarnación in a nave of the Royal Collections Gallery.Andrea Comas

The restorers Marta Fernández de los Ríos and Beatriz Burreros have developed "more of a conservation task than a comprehensive restoration," says the former.

“We have proceeded to clean the figures and glue everything that was cracked or loose, such as fingers, pieces of angel wings or legs, which came in boxes, almost as if it were a puzzle.

Polychromy has also been fixed, ”she adds.

Luckily, the silver of the figures "came with a yellow varnish that has prevented the passing of the years from giving it the characteristic black color of oxidized silver."

When all the pieces are healed and put into place, it will be time to move the monument to the area of ​​the Royal Collections Gallery dedicated to art promoted by the Bourbons.

Your site will be under a large skylight of the building designed by the architects Tuñón y Mansilla.

For Leticia Sánchez, "it will be a way to recover the memory of something that happened at that time."

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