Conservation and restoration works on the statues of St. Jerome and St. Blaise from the Museum of Cres

Kipovi sv. Jeronima i sv. Blaža pripadaju kvalitetnijim kasnogotičkim i ranorenesansnim drvenim skulpturama sjedećih muških svetaca s otoka Cresa. Kipovi su izvorno bili dio oltara kapele napuštenog zaselka Sveti Blaž na sjevernom dijelu otoka. Sredinom 20. st. skulpture su prenesene u Cres i danas su dio inventara Creskog muzeja. Konzervatorsko-restauratorski radovi izvođeni su od 2007. do 2011. godine te su pridonijeli očuvanju i boljem uvidu u njihovu umjetničku i povijesnu vrijednost. Skulpture će nakon obnove unutrašnjosti Creskog muzeja biti dio stalnog postava.Statues of St. Blaise and St. Jerome from the 15th century belong to the group of late Gothic, early Renaissance statues depicting a seated patron saint. Originally they were placed on the altar of St. Blaise’s Chapel in the deserted village St. Blaise on the western coast of the northern part of island Cres. Although there is no data about their original position, they are assumed to have been a part of the polyptych or of a similar altar retable. St. Blaise is larger and front facing, so it was probably the central figure. St. Jerome is smaller and slightly turned to the left, so it was probably placed on the left side of the central figures. These facts tell us that there probably existed the right side figure of the polyptych, which has not been preserved. The church closed in the mid 20th century so the statues were transferred to the town of Cres, and today, they are kept at the Cres Museum. Unfortunately, they were inadequately stored in the temporary depot of the museum that does not meet the conditions for the preservation of works of art. Poor storage conditions have caused further damage and accelerated the deterioration of the wooden support and painted sculpture layers. Conservation and restoration works, which lasted from 2007 to 2011, stopped further degradation and provided greater insight into their historical and artistic value. Further investigation led to the discovery of four layers of overpaint and the high quality original layer of paint. Due to the poor preservation of the wooden support and the original paint, of which only 15% was preserved, it is not possible to present the statue with its original layer, so the question about the final presentation of statues was raised. The last two overpaints have no aesthetic and historical value that should be preserved, and the lower layers are poorly preserved, especially when it comes to facial skin tones, which are virtually non-existent. The final decision was to remove the last two layers, but leave the penultimate one, containing facial skin tones, for aesthetic reasons. After removing them, the high quality sculptural modeling of the statue came to the fore. Further conservation and restoration works were minimal and included the consolidation of the painted layer and the consolidation of the wooden support, the reconstruction of smaller defects of the wooden support with colored putty, integration retouching and protective coating. Additional bases, intended to preserve and enable statues to stand alone, were also designed. Conservation and preservation works also provided valuable information about how the sculptures were made. Based on these findings and the comparisons with other similar works of art, computer simulations of their possible original appearance were also designed. After returning to the museum, the statues of St. Blaise and St. Jerome will be exhibited as a part of the permanent collection