PRESERVATION OF WALLPAPERS AS PARTS OF INTERIORS

Discussing principles of conservation
According to Jean-Baptiste Martin, three types of reconstruction
can be distinguished: archaeological, illusionistic and innovo.
292 Archaeological reconstruction can be compared to a neutral
retouch, which aims to reintegrate an authentic remnant of
a wallpaper by using a neutral tone. In this case, the loss can be
marked with either a neutral retouch or the insertion of paper in
a matching neutral colour. To avoid breaking the visual aesthetic
unity of an object, such a treatment should be kept in balance
with the preserved original fabric, when necessary using other
methods of retouching, such as Trattegio and its variations.
The illusionistic approach is a combination of conservation
and reconstruction, in which authentic fragments are preserved
and complemented by reconstruction. 293 Reconstructed areas
should be distinguishable from the original.
The in-novo technique totally reproduces and replaces wallpaper.
Martin describes three different situations in which this
method can be applied. 294
Firstly, the original fragments are not kept on the wall as
the damage is too extensive. The panels may be taken down
and the walls repainted with a neutral colour. In this case, the
authentic setting is not preserved in situ. Instead, the choice of a
neutral reconstruction in-novo is adopted. 295 A similar solution
of in-novo reconstruction was used in the Gesellschaftsraum in
the aforementioned Schloss Paretz to complete a setting that
included hand-painted Chinese wallpaper panels depicting exotic
birds and flowers, a border, a dado and four over-door panels.
The dado, border and panels on one wall had been destroyed. To
mark their original location on the wall, papers in three neutral
tones were used. This method imitated the type and extent of the
historic decorative scheme instead of leaving the space empty.
Secondly, the decoration is totally lost and needs to be reconstructed.
Such a reconstruction may ignore the changes in the
décor that took place after a certain point. 296
292
Ibid., 90.
293
Ibid., 91.
294
Ibid, 93–94.
295
Ibid., 93.
296
Ibid., 94.
157