In 2020. The Polonica Institute undertook to carry out conservation work on the painting 'Saint Benedict' from the post-Jesuit church of Sts. Saints Peter and Paul in Lviv, now a garrison church.

The painting was once used as a temporary veil for an image in the main altar of the former Jesuit church. The depiction of the saint on canvas, in oil technique, dates to the 1840s. The painting was cut from the original looms and is not preserved in its original dimensions or proportions. In recent years it has been rolled up and stored in the church's emporium.

Saint Benedict is depicted full-figured, in antique costume, against a landscape background. On the clouds is the personification of the Church - a female figure wearing a papal tiara on her head. The ribbon swirling above the head bears the Latin inscription - 'Blessed is he who walks in the name of the Lord. Paraphrase of Math. 23".

Due to the poor state of preservation of the object, urgent conservation intervention was required. The painting showed numerous abrasions and losses in the paint layer, and the paint was chipping along with the ground.

Work carried out in 2020.

In 2020, the painting underwent salvage conservation work to stop the progressive degradation of all technological layers, strengthen its structure and protect it from future damage. A full range of technical conservation work was carried out, including: cleaning, disinfecting and impregnating the canvas sub-image and repairing its mechanical damage: pasting prosthetics into the areas of defects, contact bonding and stitching of tears, locally reinforced with bridging. It was also necessary to carry out duplication.

Contractor: Artem Renovo Paweł Boliński

Work carried out in 2021

The aesthetic conservation stage fell in 2021. It consists of the restoration of chipped portions of the priming and retouching of the painting, together with the possible reconstruction of missing elements of the composition. The choice of paints and binders was based on previous studies of the original layers.

Executor: ARTEM RENOVO company under the direction of Dr. Paweł Boliński

Conservation work carried out in 2020-2021, Conservation Programme, Polonica Institute