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It is an age-old rule in the museum world: a painting never travels alone. Corona changed that. Condition checks are now done online. ‘It is a matter of trust’, says Carl Depauw, director of Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp.
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It is Tuesday afternoon, just before 3 pm and we are sitting at a corner of the desk of Carl Depauw, the director of Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp. Zoom says on his computer screen that his host will admit him soon. That host is Christine McDermott, exhibitions project manager at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Met for the Friends. There, the exhibition The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512–1570 begins on June 26.
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One of the paintings on display is the 16th-century portrait of the young Francesco I de’ Medici, painted by Alessandro Allori. It is owned by the Mayer van den Bergh Museum. Depauw brought it to Zaventem airport on 3 June, together with the art transport company Hizkia van Kralingen. There he waved it off on the tarmac.
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‘So we’re not used to that,’ he says. ‘Without corona, I would have boarded the plane to check in the museum how the painting had withstood the journey. But it was too cumbersome to fly to New York now because of all the travel restrictions. We will do the check via Zoom later. Somehow that feels weird. But you have to have faith in the other museum. It’s like letting children travel alone. I expect that virtual couriers, as we call it in museum jargon, will happen much more often. It’s incredibly cost effective.’
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Depauw is not ready for his test piece. ‘We also virtually checked our painting ‘The Carrying of the Cross’ from Jheronimus Bosch’s studio when we lent it to the Bonnefantenmuseum in Maastricht. That was no problem. The camera sees a lot, even if restorers rely more on their eye.’
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The essence
- Francesco de Medici is a 16th century portrait of Alessandro Allori.
- It is in the possession of Museum Mayer van den Bergh in Antwerp.
- It was loaned out for a temporary expo at The Met in New York.
- The canvas was flown over without a museum courier.
- The condition check was done via Zoom.
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Just after 3pm, The Met is ready to remove the portrait from the wooden box. Mary Allen, one of the museum staff, and curator Alan Miller explain in detail each step of what is about to happen. They ask Depauw how he wants to see the box opened. “The coffin has to be opened on the floor and then the painting has to be packed on the table,” he says.
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The portrait is encased in Tyvek, a synthetic material. ‘It’s very soft, almost Japanese tissue paper. Ideal for protecting the canvas,” says the director.
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The chest opens. Depauw looks on with concentration. ‘Can you lift the painting with four people? Each on one corner?’ No problem for The Met. There are people enough.
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The painting is placed on a cart. ‘We have had it completely restored in recent months. A lot of varnish has come off. The pants were yellow, but now they’re cream, the way Allori painted them.’
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‘Did you find the tracker in the box?’ Depauw asks. Everyone doesn’t know and goes to look. Thirty seconds later, she shows a blue box to the Zoom camera. ‘The tracker constantly measures the conditions in which the painting is located during the journey. Humidity, temperature, shocks’, says Depauw. The condition report that was made in Antwerp is also found.
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In New York, meanwhile, Miller has his nose on the painting. “Carl, I think I see three small scratches.” Depauw is not worried. “They’re old, nothing to worry about. We’d already seen them.’
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I expect that virtual couriers, as we call it in museum jargon, will happen much more often. It is incredibly cost effective.
Carl Depauw
Director Museum Mayer van den Bergh
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Moments later, Miller comes with another small find. “We found animal excrement in the frame.” Again Depauw is not worried. ‘Probably from old woodworm. Nothing new. Transport may have released it from openings in the old frame.’
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No further damage is found to the painting, it can be driven to the place where it will be hung. It is measured there first. And then everything falls silent. It’s 10 a.m. New York time. Half hour coffee break. It doesn’t matter that a museum director is waiting in Belgium.
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Network
The De’ Medici’s exhibition in New York features 65 loans from all over the world. Three quarters of this is couriered virtually. ‘That is a lot. I am curious what the future will bring. One of the major drawbacks is the absence of network contacts. When I bring the portrait myself, I meet a lot of people from the sector. This is important. That’s all gone now. But I’ll be fine. The plan is that I will pick up the painting after the exhibition.’
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The most famous painting of Museum Mayer van den Bergh is ‘Dulle Griet’ by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Would that only be allowed on the plane? ‘I should really think about that and have some serious conversations.’
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The break is over at The Met. The painting is neatly hung on the wall, next to a bust. With the camera, Depauw gets a close-up of what it looks like. “Perfect,” he says. ‘Thank you’, a few voices in New York say. Leave Meeting.
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When I bring the portrait myself, I meet a lot of people from the sector. This is important. That’s all gone now.
