Louvre to restore Rubens's Medici Cycle
Louvre has announced that it will conserve and restore the famous Medici Cycle by Rubens. The 24 paintings are expected to be off view for approximately 4 years while the work takes place.
These Rubens paintings are some of the key works of their time. But despite their fame, the paintings are currently be exhibited in an “unsatisfactory state,” according to the Louvre, whose 2016 analysis triggered an internal investigation into the works. In 2020, upon further research, experts with the Louvre expressed “grave concern” about the works, the museum said.
“The works are no longer in a suitable state for display,” the museum said. “Specifically, the varnishes have generally yellowed (due to oxidation), and retouching from earlier restorations has become visually discordant—and therefore visible—detracting from the proper appreciation and interpretation of the paintings.”
The Louvre will now remedy this, turning the gallery into what it described as a “restoration studio” where its team can refurbish the works once more.
The Medici Cycle is the largest commission ever received by Rubens, commissioned in 1621 by Marie de’ Medici, the queen to France’s Henry IV and a member of the Italian family whose patronage shaped European art history during the time of the Renaissance and the age of Dutch and Flemish Old Masters. It represents nearly 293 square meters of painted surface to be restored in situ in room 801, located in the Richelieu wing, which will be transformed into a restoration workshop.