Thursday, January 19, 2012

Famous fresco by Clarke goes on display in Donegal

A famous fresco painted by the country's greatest acknowledged stained glass artist, Harry Clarke, and which had been hidden for decades at a County Donegal Cathedral, was finally unveiled this week.

The fresco of an angel had been left hidden for decades under several layers of paint at the back of the altar at Saint Eunan's Cathedral in Letterkenny and was by unveiled after restoration works costing €700,000 were recently completed.

Restorer Ruth Rothwell said, “The discovery of the painting was a very welcome find. We suspected that something might be there.  Over the years, the gold leaf and bright colours went out of fashion and were painted over.  It was a slow and painstaking job but it was really worth it in the end when we discovered the painting and started to restore it. In total, it took three months to restore the painting, most of which was spent removing six layers of paint.  Once this was done paint analysis was carried out to discover the exact colours used in the original painting so we could reproduce those.”

According to Ms Rothwell, it is believed that the painting was, “painted on a canvass at Harry Clarke's studio in Dublin and then stuck onto the Cathedral wall using a rabbit skin glue.”  

It is also believed that much of the paint used was a gold Italian colour. 

Commenting on the find, local curate Fr Eammon Kelly said, “It looked lovely and we didn't know whether it had been destroyed or not. We are delighted that it has been uncovered and it really adds to what has been an absolutely beautiful restoration.”