Popular piety

The globes and coffers of popular piety gathered here were sent to the workshop of Jean-Christian Midavaine, artist and restorer, in 2018. He systematically cleaned and extracted the dust from each composition. He carried out intervention work when necessary, following the concept of reversibility of the restoration. He photographed each of the stages, from the arrival of the object in his workshop to its departure. The meticulousness and precision of the details of this type of composition can be seen, for example, in the scene with the monk kneeling on his bed. You can even see a replica of a “canvas” by Rogier de le Pasture - van der Weyden (ca. 1399-1464) hanging on the wall above the bed. The restorer noted that the wood of the furniture had become dry. He carried out maintenance with beeswax. Over time, the golden flowers on the flowery background had fallen off onto a neighbouring composition. Jean-Christian Midavaine meticulously observed the surface of the canvas, determined the position of the flowers, and put them back. Above the window, a plaster Mary with the Child Jesus, probably executed by Nicolas Lecreux (1734-1799), is placed between the portrait of a sister and that of François Valentin, father and chaplain, the Receiver of Revenues at Tournai Cathedral.