Restauración de frescos en Oratorio de Casa de la Villa de Antonio Palomino

Rivera de la Cruz supervises the restoration work of the murals

The Madrid City Council is carrying out the restoration of the murals of the Oratory of the Casa de la Villa, for which it will allocate 210,000 euros. These frescoes were made by the Cordovan master Antonio Palomino (Bujalance, 1655 – Madrid, 1726) in 1696, immediately after completing the construction of the historic town hall.

The delegate for Culture, Tourism and Sports, Marta Rivera de la Cruz, visited the site today to follow up on these works, which began in early June with an estimated duration of 9 months and are part of the action plan for the conservation and improvement of the city’s cultural heritage. of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Madrid City Council.

Rivera de la Cruz highlighted the «extraordinary effort of the City Council to protect the immense heritage wealth of the people of Madrid, sometimes little known by citizens, such as these paintings,» which decorate the walls of one of the spaces of great historical interest – an artistic building that housed the former City Hall of Madrid from the 17th century until its transfer to the Palacio de Cibeles in 2008.

Casa-Villa

The Casa de la Villa was commissioned by Philip IV in 1629 to host meetings of the Council, the then chief architect of the royal works and chief architect of the city of Madrid, Juan Gómez de Mora. Although construction began in 1644, it was delayed due to economic problems and several architects intervened until its completion in 1696, with Teodoro Ardemans in charge of its completion: he designed the Baroque doors, designed the chapel, configured the courtyard, the main staircase and corner towers.

Inside the property, the Crystal Patio, the Session Room, and the small Oratory created under the old Clock Tower at the top of the spires stand out for officiating religious ceremonies and guarding the relics of María de la Cabeza, wife of San Isidro, the patron saint of the Villa, who had not yet been elevated to the altars.

In 1696, at the request of the city councilors, Antonio de Palomino developed a pictorial program for the Oratory focused on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, combined with a series of allusions to the Monarchy and the City of Madrid from the 19th century. lives of Santa María de la Cabeza and San Isidro Labrador, and other sacred subjects among the decorative elements.

Palomino’s stylistic and pictorial sources were, on the one hand, the teachings of Claudio Coello in works carried out for the Alcázar of Madrid; on the other hand, the influence of the Neapolitan Luca Giordano, who came to Spain, called by Carlos II, to decorate the vaults of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, which allowed the Cordovan to complete his training as a fresco painter. alongside Coello, showing it through the fresco technique in the paintings of the Oratory.

Conservation and restoration tasks of the property.

The conservation of the pictorial ensemble has been affected by various factors, such as changes in use, and there was also a moisture leak from an old iron downpipe, which affects the representation of Santa María de la Cabeza. In 2021, sanitary interventions were carried out to ensure waterproofing in that area, along with the replacement of the old downpipe.

The restoration project includes historical, photographic, and environmental analysis of the chapel; characterization of all materials; cartographic record of paintings; and the application of all necessary treatments for cleaning the pictorial surface, preconsolidation of the pictorial layers, fixing of areas with possible detachment, structural consolidation, desalination of the wall layers, mineral consolidation of the support, reintegration with replacement and chromatic mortars. reintegration of murals; and finally, the final report of the entire conservation and restoration process of the Oratory.

The General Directorate of Cultural Heritage of the Culture, Tourism, and Sports Area of the Madrid City Council prepared all the necessary works for its recovery with the advice of Teresa Valle Fernández, from the Mural Painting Department of the Cultural Heritage Institute of Madrid. Spain IPCE of the Ministry of Culture, which awarded the contract for conservation and restoration services to the company Talleres de Arte Granda SA and the restoration direction to Patrocinio Jimeno Victori. /