Leonardo Da Vinci’s St John the Baptist (around 1513-16), a treasure of the Louvre Museum in Paris, is once again on view to the public from Wednesday, 9 November after a ten-month cleaning at C2RMF, the nearby restoration and research centre for French museums. The in-depth conservation, which was scrutinized by the media and specialists because of earlier restorations of Leonardo’s work at the museum, refreshes what was “probably the most varnished painting in the Louvre’s collection”, according to a press release.
虽然圣约翰自1802年浸在一起 - 但在进入卢浮宫的收藏之后，这绘制了 - 从那时起，这幅画已经定期清漆。该恢复项目的主要目标是剥离大约15层的清漆，这已经泛黄并遮住了原来的绘画的微妙和颜色。RéginaMereira恢复涂漆材料，也从先前的修复物中删除过绘画，包括圣徒，他的躯干和背景的武器。虽然恢复的整体效果是微妙的，但现在更明显的动物皮肤和圣约翰卷发等地区。
清洁过程中的分析也为绘画的病情和艺术家的工作方法提供了见解。虽然这幅画的木材支撑处于相对良好的条件，但根据新闻稿的说法，虽然没有主要的油漆面积缺失，但有“与艺术家的图案技术相关的显着过早裂缝”。(The museum has not provided additional details on the treatment of the layers of the painting directly done by Leonardo’s hand.) One “particularly interesting” discovery was the presence of finely ground glass, sometimes used as a drying agent, in the darker layers of the work, since it was the most extensive use of this material in any work by the artist.
卢浮宫绘画部主任的SébastienAllard提到了“主要媒体压力”在恢复过程的开始时 ，由于分歧，还有最近恢复Leonardo的圣安妮，也在博物馆的收藏中，走得太远了。早期清洁圣约翰浸信会遭到批评：在1639年，亚伯拉罕梵德诺斯特，英格兰查尔斯I的策展人 - 然后拥有圣约翰的施洗者 - 这绘制的手和手臂有被过热的清洁损坏了。Allard告诉记者在发布这个恢复和清洁运动：“谨慎和实用主义，这是我们的教义。”