PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Discussing principles of conservation
Andreja Dragojevic has described a conservation process
carried out on early French wallpapers found in Croatia. One
of the state’s largest and best-preserved 19th-century wallpaper
collections was found in the Gozze Palace in Dubrovnik. The
oldest wallpaper dated back to about 1810 and was covered by
a later layer from a period after 1850. 283 Both of the layers were
conserved in a workshop and returned to their original location.
As there was an insufficient quantity of the older layer to
completely redecorate the room, it was decided that it would
be mounted on two of the walls, while the other two walls were
covered with the more recent wallpaper. 284 In this case, the conservation
treatment did not interfere with the original - it consolidated
the object’s physical condition and ensured its further
existence. The missing areas of the lower layer were retouched
with a neutral tone which blended with the preserved material.
The repairs and original could be distinguished from each other
through close observation.
One of the dominant features in wallpaper conservation is
known as stylistic restoration. It involves re-establishing an
object in a completed state. 285 According to Brandi’s definition,
restoration should aim to re-establish the potential oneness of
the work of art, as long as this is possible without committing
artistic or historical forgery, and without erasing every trace of
the passage through time of the work of art. 286 However, the feasibility
of restoration depends on the amount of historic material
that has survived. Restoration should only be carried out
if there is sufficient evidence of an earlier state of the object. 287
In the case of historic wallpapers, sufficient evidence refers to
the extent and type of a wall scheme, as well as the existence
of all relevant applications which help to form a whole. Restoration
is most commonly carried out on either wallpapers that
are easily accessible or those that have retained their integrity
and aesthetic properties under several superimposed layers.
283
Dragojevic, “Croatia: the story continues”, 60.
284
Ibid., 62.
285
Muños Viñas, Contemporary Theory of Conservation, 4.
286
Brandi, Theory of Restoration, 71.
287
The Burra Charter, Article 19, 1999.
154