The Dome of the Virgin in the Saint-Roch Church

The Dome of the Virgin in the Saint-Roch Church

The dome in the Virgin’s chapel was created by Jean-Baptiste Pierre, the First Painter of Louis XV. This large-sized composition representing the Assumption of the Virgin, inaugurated in 1756, was painted in oil on mounted canvas. During the Revolution, the church was abandoned. Water filtered through the roof and stagnated between the interior and exterior domes. A large band approximately four metres high was completely damaged.

The dome had already been restored twice, the first time in 1835 and the second in 1931, by Belhomme, who replaced the destroyed parts (around 40% of the surface). His intervention consisted of mounting new canvases around the dome and recomposing the missing figures. The surrounding paintings were already filthy.

In 1988, a new restoration campaign was initiated, and then finished in 1992. The painting on the dome, which was dirty and hidden by altered varnish, was indecipherable. After a first phase of cleaning and de-varnishing, one could see the painting in a most complex way: the enormous mass of anterior restorations had become totally dark due to the oxidation of linseed oil used for painting over.

Our intervention (in collaboration with the restorer Quentin Arguillère for the eighteenth century parts) concerned all the parts that were not in line with the original painting, meaning over 140m² of the total 328m².

We developed a specific technique, using a framework which enabled us to avoid repainting over already repainted areas. With a sponge, the drawings of earlier restorations, although imperfect, could be revealed.

In this manner, the original work was totally respected.This technique, closer to painting than restoring, was extremely efficient. The project itself has become a reference in its field.