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Wearing high-visibility vests and gloves, the workers prepare to open the wooden crate. The container, two metres high and nearly four wide, rests delicately reclined in an as-yet empty room at CaixaForum Barcelona. The silence in the room could be cut with a knife. It is not every day you get to witness the unpacking of a masterpiece: this is The Judgement of Paris (1638-1639), by Peter Paul Rubens. The canvas, set to be the undisputed star of the exhibition Rubens and the Flemish Baroque Artists, has been resting in this packaging for four days, following its journey in a climate-controlled lorry from the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid.
The piece does not travel alone. It is accompanied by a security escort and a “courier” from the Prado – a technical professional whose role is to oversee artworks when they are loaned to other institutions. “We are responsible for checking that the pieces leaving the museum remain in their state of conservation,” explains Alicia Peral, a restorer and conservator, and the courier for The Judgement of Paris – almost its “guardian angel”. “We’re there when the crate is sealed in Madrid and when it’s opened at its destination, as well as for the journeys there and back.”
The arrival of the painting to this room has not been easy. Anna Penalva, the exhibition coordinator, tells us that one of the golden rules when transporting works of this kind is to move them as little as absolutely necessary, but when the canvas is of large dimensions, things get more complicated. Showing us images of the process on her mobile phone, Penalva explains that they had to saw off the lintel of an external iron door so the crate could be brought directly into the room where the painting will be displayed.
The unpacking has something of a ritual about it. All that can be heard is the brushing of hands against the wood, the contact of tools, the murmur of instructions. It is a painstaking process that demands instant silence as the group of six technicians, with almost choreographed precision, removes the outer cover of the custom-made protective crate and reveals the composition.
«The unpacking has something of a ritual about it. All that can be heard is the brushing of hands against the wood, the contact of tools, the murmur of instructions.»
At that moment, under the watchful gaze of the goddesses Juno, Minerva and Venus, Alicia Peral begins the technical assessment – almost a ritual in itself: documents in hand, a torch tracing the surface of the canvas and high-resolution photographic records as reference. These tools, however, cannot replace her trained eye. “It’s job that relies heavily on observation,” Peral points out. “Art is not perfect, and there are things like the tension of the canvas or certain deformations that only the human eye can detect.”
There are no surprises. After the wait, the technical assessment concludes successfully. And that is no coincidence: “A lot of preparatory work is done to ensure that nothing unexpected happens,” Peral explains. “The crates are designed so they don’t affect the artworks, the lorries maintain temperature and humidity conditions… Everything is set up to avoid any mishaps.”
Despite all the planning, the pace is set by the piece itself. “The type of inspection we carry out depends greatly on the condition and size of each work,” says the Prado restorer. “In this case, the painting has just been restored, so it’s in good condition, which makes it easier to detect if anything has happened to it.”
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lustre after a nine-month restoration
Until recently, The Judgement of Paris hung in one of the main corridors of the Prado, but it has undergone a nine-month restoration. In fact, the exhibition Rubens and the Flemish Baroque Artists will be the first occasion on which it is shown to the public again. “The piece has been fully restored by the Prado’s restorer, María Antonia López de Asiaín, who has brought back its lustre and rebalanced the composition,” explains Alicia Peral. “A number of 18th-century additions that covered the nudity of the goddesses – out of the modesty of the time – have also been removed.”
The painting, which depicts a mythological scene in which Paris, prince of Troy, must choose the most beautiful among the goddesses Juno, Minerva and Venus, marked a challenge by Rubens to the conventions of his time through his embrace of the voluptuousness of the female form. In Barcelona, the piece breathes freely and is displayed without some of the veils that were later added to cover the bodies, thus restoring the artist’s original intent. “Sometimes you see that some of the works on display may lose part of their meaning or their ability to communicate with viewers, and that restoration is necessary,” explains Peral. “In this case, we saw that the time was right, that we had the technical means to do it, and that we could treat the work safely.”
Hanging The
Judgement of Paris, the final choreography
Once the inspection is complete, the team of art handlers – technicians specialised in handling artworks – asks for silence and space. The most delicate moment arrives, the final movement, in which the painting is suspended on one of the exhibition room walls at CaixaForum Barcelona. A moment, almost a painting within a painting, in which the figures of the six technicians seem to be in dialogue with those in the artwork.
A sense of relief fills the room. From a short distance, observing the result, Alicia Peral reflects that the work will be appreciated “in a more intimate way” in Barcelona.
The painting now resting at CaixaForum Barcelona will play a central role in the exhibition Rubens and the Flemish Baroque Artists, which can be visited in Barcelona from 29 May to 21 September. Curated by José Juan Pérez Preciado, the exhibition focuses on the creative genius of Peter Paul Rubens, his influence on generations of painters and his key role in transforming the visual language of the 17th century. Throughout the display, his works engage in dialogue with pieces by Van Dyck, Jordaens and Brueghel the Elder, demonstrating that his style brought about an aesthetic revolution in European painting.
The exhibition brings together more than 60 works and objects, many of them from the lesser-known collections of the Museo Nacional del Prado. Among the highlights are The Birth of Apollo and Diana, The Death of Seneca and The Immaculate Conception. All of these will share the space with The Judgement of Paris, as well as the return journey – a process that will be carried out smoothly thanks to the Prado’s couriers, who play a key behind-the-scenes role, out of sight of the public.
