Shaping Aesthetic Concepts in Wall Painting Restoration

In the second half of 19th century the personage of J. Makarewicz stands out as a recognized authority in the field of conservation of wall paintings in the country. His methods of aesthetic solutions constituted the continuation of those from the 19th century and were still practiced by his disciples a long time after the World War II. His assumptions in the field were consistent with the new rules which were advocated by the theoreticians of conservation-restoration active at the tum of 20th century. In practice, these realizations consisted in painting over the original. During the interwar period there already appeared attempts to distinguish between the original and conservatory retouches. However, the real breakthrough took place after World War II as a result of great damages of the wall paintings in Italy. New concepts of conservatory retouches introduced by C. Brandi were later developed in the conservatory practice by professors L. and P. Mora in Rome and 0. Casazza in Florence. Directly under the influence of the Italian solutions new practical methods of retouches were introduced in Poland. The activities of the following professors in the field could be mentioned here: professor B. Marconi, K. Dabrowski, J. and E. Wolski. With time, negative instances of "graphic" pinpointing could also be noticed, both in Italy and in Poland. At present, two issues require some attention: firstly, whether applying the generally recognized techniques of filling in with lines and dots are the methods in force. The second issue concerns the potential problems and errors arising when applying these uniform methods in restoration of wall paintings.