Resumen de Medieval sculptures re-polychromed and re-gilded in the 19th century by Adrien Hubert Bressers
Adrien Hubert Bressers and his son Léon recreated the polychromy on more than 50 medieval sculptures in Belgium. Before the new polychromy was applied to the objects, the work passed through the hands of a sculptor-restorer, usually Léopold Blanchaert. With some exceptions, the sculptures were carefully stripped of their polychromy before they were re-gilded and painted. Given this large body of work, an attempt was made to understand the choice of techniques and decorative patterns of this neo-Gothic polychromy. What could have been the original source of inspiration? Did the new polychromy vary in accordance with the date of the sculpture? To what extent is the new scheme faithful to what the Bressers saw on the sculptures before they proceeded? In other words, could the new layers provide information on the original polychromy? In addition to visual observations made "in situ", the study of archival documents -tracings, copies, sketches, working drawings in 1:1 format, photographs, as well as numerous notebooks with written descriptions and sketches -was found to be very useful inresearching these questions. Some examples treated in the time of Adrien Hubert Bressers are discussed here.
