A polychrome wooden statue of Saint Roch, in place at the Saint-Brice de Chatonrupt church, was removed by a team from a restoration workshop in Grenoble. Protector of pilgrims, but also of various brotherhoods and corporations, Saint Roch will return at an undetermined date.
According to Christian tradition, the pilgrim and thaumaturge Saint Roch was born in Montpellier around 1350 and died in Italy around 1378. Suffering from the plague and secluded in a wood near a spring, it is said that a dog brought him bread each day. His statue of Chatonrupt was noticed last year by a curator of antiquities and works of art in Haute-Marne. On his advice, the municipality took the initiative to present it to the contest “Save the heritage of your municipality”, organized jointly by the Commissariat for Atomic Energy (CEA) and the Association of Mayors of France (AMF). Indeed, in a rather correct overall condition, this statue is still damaged by xylophagous insects. Although this religious work of art was not initially selected for the competition, it was reported to the National Radioactive Waste Management Agency (Andra) by Amy Benadiba, heritage curator at the restoration workshop. -conservation, and research laboratory, Arc-Nucléart. This Regional Conservation Workshop (Arc) of the Public Interest Group (GIP) type comes from the ProNucléart association. It is supported by the Ministry of Culture and is included within the CEA premises in Grenoble. However, the competence that Andra de Bure has given itself, for the restoration of works of art, concerns the Meuse and Haute-Marne. Tuesday, June 6, Amy Benadiba and the conservator-restorer of sculptures Frédéric Borlet went to Chatonrupt, where they were welcomed at the church by the mayor, Joël Agnus, and his first assistant Rosalia Quercy.
Marielle Girard, communication officer at Andra de Bure, was also present.
Frédéric Borlet first carried out various tests on the statue, then returned the next day, Wednesday, to see the results. He then proceeded to lay Japanese adhesive paper on the sculpture, in places where flakes of paint risked falling during transport to Grenoble.
Gamma ray treatment
This remarkable representation of Saint Roch is 90 cm high, 47 cm wide and 25 cm deep. The protector of pilgrims, who holds his stick surmounted by a gourd, is represented carrying a bag. He is accompanied by an angel and a dog holding a loaf of bread in its mouth. According to Frédéric Borlet, this work appears to predate the 19the century, but will perhaps be assigned a more precise dating thanks to the analysis of the pigments which covers it, or of the wood which composes it. The Haut-Marnaise curator estimated it to be from the 17the century. One thing is certain: it has been repainted several times. The treatment reserved for this statue, a state-of-the-art technique, will in particular consist of irradiation with gamma rays in order to eliminate biological pests: bacteria, molds, insects. Left Thursday, June 8 to Isère, the Saint Roch de Chatonrupt will return magnificent and harmless: without any trace of radioactivity according to its restorer.
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