In Haute-Marne, a retiree restores, in his own way, a series of 19th century paintings

The fourteen stations of the ascent of Christ to Calvary were lost in the tower of the Saint-Brice church in Chatonrupt-Sommermont, in Haute-Marne.

Today they come back to life and color in the hands and amateur brushes of a retiree from the town.

The peeling surfaces and faded tones of the canvases give way, painting after painting, to bright colours, firmer forms and the feeling of having “restored” a series of oil paintings that had been left decaying for too long.

Except that the benevolent restorer did not suspect for a moment that his brushstrokes had bruised works of art which, according to first estimates, date from the middle of the 19th century.

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"It started with a good feeling, but that's how it is, the damage is done"

, told

Joël Agnus, the mayor of Chatonrupt-Sommermont.

The tone is sorry.

Almost no one had remembered, in this small town nestled between Troyes and Nancy, the presence of these anonymous paintings loaded with Christ in pain.

Discovered in July 2021 during work on the carillon of the church, this set represents the fourteen stations of the Way of the Cross, one of the great motifs of the passion of Christ.

The group of paintings was entrusted as is to the darkness of an unknown corner of the bell tower, perhaps around 1973, without a tarpaulin or any other protection.

The canvases remained crouched in their blind spot, black and smelly, between an uncertain staircase and a bay open to the four winds.

They were courted there, it seems, by squadrons of pigeons and owls.

The paintings remained for several decades in an unsanitary corner of the church of Saint-Brice de Chatonrupt-Sommermont, in Haute-Marne.

Patrick Quercy

When it was rediscovered, the pictorial “treasure” of Chatonrupt-Sommermont had more or less changed into an agglomerate of necrotic canvases.

The mayor remembers.

," says Joël Agnus.

According to the reported testimony of several village elders, these same paintings, exhibited in the 1960s in the nave of the church, were already in an advanced state of decrepitude.

Prolonged isolation has finished chiseling the whole thing.

"

sums up the mayor.

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The volunteer in question, Patrick Quercy, was trying his hand at art restoration work for the first time.

An amateur painter, this retired Air Force meteorologist who readily describes himself as a

set about restoring the canvases to a state of beauty, after sanding down the stretchers, cleaning the surface and opening.

He had procured, for the occasion,

a DIY store in Joinville;

an investment that he charged 40 euros per restoration to the town hall - enough to reimburse the costs incurred.

They were third-rate canvases, made in a hurry, in series, by small local painters working in factories and who sold them by catalog.

Patrick Quercy

The possibility of restoring these works is emerging.

, willingly specified the volunteer painter at

.

In short, wrecks of productions with sacred subject, certainly, but of food nature and botched by jobbers, of

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Unclassified, dying in a lamentable state, the paintings found clutter the small town.

, argues Patrick Quercy.

Decision is then taken by the town hall, last summer: restore the paintings and

in order to put them back in the church.

“

”, defends the amateur restorer, without ever mentioning the heritage code or the inalienability of the works.

Death of Christ on the Cross

.

XII station of the Stations of the Cross restored in recent weeks in Haute-Marne.

Patrick Quercy

The great work then begins, in the torpor of the summer of 2021. The first canvas is taken up again with infinite precautions and is gradually covered with new layers of paint, following the outline of the original composition.

Admittedly, the style differs and the colors surprise.

According to the volunteer, between the losses and the colors dulled by time, it had become

to identify certain tones.

he says.

he also declared last week to our colleagues from France 3. From the first months, the local regional press followed the file.

relays the discovery of the paintings from July 2021, in an article signed in person by Patrick Quercy, local correspondent for the title.

Then, in September, a report by

reported positively on the first restorations.

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Admiration is then general in the neighborhood.

", recalls Patrick Quercy, who assumes his retouching and remains quite satisfied with his work,

.

“

,” he maintains.

The campaign to restore the fourteen paintings continued throughout the fall and then the winter.

On Monday, only two and a half canvases remained intact.

A set passed under the radar

In March, the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac) of the Grand-Est region finally becomes aware of the discovery and restoration of the paintings.

Eight months later.

The service had not been made aware of the situation, neither by the town hall, nor - even less - by the clergy.

Informed last summer of what the Saint-Brice de Chatonrupt church contained, the young local priest,

and in charge of 59 sites, according to the mayor, would have contented himself with pointing out that these goods belonged to the municipality. .

According to the heritage code, the fortuitous discovery of the paintings should have been the subject of a report by the town hall to the prefect, who would then have notified the competent services.

Given their condition, I did not imagine for the slightest moment that we could have been accompanied.

Joel Agnus, Mayor Chatonrupt-Sommermont

Contacted at the end of March by the Drac Grand Est, the mayor of Chatonrupt-Sommermont told

that he had been asked to stop the restorations in progress.

Since then, his phone has been ringing more often than usual.

Interlocutors evoke to his great surprise a

of the paintings.

Joël Agnus does not hide his dismay in the face of this affair.

,” said the mayor.

He feels that he was not well informed about what he should have done.

“, he evokes, recalling that Chatonrupt-Sommermont, approximately 300 inhabitants, does not contain any listed property or any historical monument.

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The restorer of the Stations of the Cross, Patrick Quercy, is also surprised by the recent noise raised by his work.

, he says.

.

Patrick Quercy learned only very recently that a heritage inventory had taken place in Chatonrupt-Sommermont in 2006. The paintings had then remained under the radar.

Similarly, the various echoes of the discovery published in the local press did not make the referents of the Drac Grand Est react, like the permanence of Joinville, five kilometers from the town.

"

,” suggests Joël Agnus.

Contacted by

, the Drac Grand Est did not wish to speak

.

“We acted in good faith, wishing to preserve what had been fortuitously discovered even if it was not done in the best way,

summarizes the mayor of Chatonrupt-Sommermont.

“While the question of the reversibility of the restorations seems to worry the specialists of the Drac, Patrick Quercy nevertheless plans to complete his restoration of the twelfth table.

Especially since after the

in Zaragoza and

of Navarre, France perhaps holds its place in the ballet of risky restorations.