Getty recovers Ale emisia gentileschi hercules in pain

A painting by Northern emisia gentileschi was severely damaged in a terrifying explosion in the port of Beirut in August 2020 and has been restored in the conservation studio of the J. Paul Getty Museum. It is on display at the Los Angeles Museum Artemisia’s Strong Women: Rescue Masterpiecea new exhibition dedicated to work and hard three years of restoration.

The painting dates back around 1630 and depicts the myths of Hercules and Ohio. Hercules was sentenced by Delphic Oracle to convict of accidental murder, wearing women’s outfits and working for a female year while Omphale wore his Nemean Lion skin and kept the club. Church’s feet mark the moment when the gender-bending hero and queen fall in love. There are records of the records of Al’er’s examination, which paints some scenes featuring Herakres, but it is well known that this scene was determined until the explosion almost destroyed it.

The devastating explosion was the result of a fire that broke out in a facility that stored explosive materials, claiming more than 200 lives. The fire ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, causing such a powerful explosion that it actually upgraded the port and blew up windows and ceilings throughout the city. Many art galleries and museums in the Lebanese capital are located near the port, so the epicenter of Beirut culture has been cut in amid hundreds of deaths, thousands of casualties, 300,000 homeless people and $15 billion in property damage.

One of the damaged art institutions is the Susok Museum and the palace facing the Susok Palace. The Sursock family came to power with Ottoman officials and established their own private empires in real estate, banking, exporting and manufacturing. They were one of Beirut’s most outstanding Christian families, moving in the aristocratic circles in Europe and the Levant.

Sursock Palace is an Italian villa and garden completed by Moïse Sursock in 1860, but due to his marriage to Donna Maria Teresa Serra Di Cassano, it was Alfred Bey Sursock of the 1920s accumulating a large number of Italian Baroque paintings in the 1920s. Her father was Francesco Serra, the seventh Duke of Cassano, and her son and Alfred inherited the title of grandfather. Yvonne Sursock, daughter of Alfred and Donna Maria, Lady Cochrane, was the fierce guardian of the palace and her art gardening, and her entire life was long. She was 98 years old and still lived in the palace when the explosion occurred. 17 days later, she died of injuries.

In 1993, Lebanese art historian Gregory Buchakjian wrote his thesis on his master’s degree at the Sursock Palace Art Collection of Sorbonne University. Since most of the works are not marked, his research focuses on recording and identifying paintings. He believes that two works in the palace – Hercules and Ohio and Pen regretful Magdalene – Written by Artemisia Gentileschi, although his professor found his argument convincing, he did not pursue further at the time.

After the explosion, Buchakjian flew to Sursock Palace to provide any assistance and saw two paintings he wrote in his paper. He wrote an article about rescue work and the damage to the palace. A fearsome realization that two rare Artemisia gentileschi works with destruction have stimulated art historians to watch the Sursock Palace series with fresh eyes. Buchakjian’s research links Hercules to Gentileschi’s known works, especially her use of very specific jewelry works in several of her paintings, which they confirmed when other art historians and Gentileschi experts conducted an investigation.

The recovery of Sursock Palace began in 2021 in a UNESCO initiative to restore the lost legacy of Beirut and Hercules and Ohio Sent to Getty for protection in 2022. Paint paintings on oil were rented out with broken glass when the explosion blew up the palace’s windows. There are many small tear, sprinkled with missing paint chips and a 20-inch large force leg on the area.

when Hercules and Ohio Arriving at Getty, Ulrich Birkmaier, senior custodian of painting, conducted a comprehensive technical inspection with the Getty Conservation Institute to address structural and aesthetic issues and developed a conservation plan. He worked with Rome-based guardian Matteo Rossi Doria to secure the back of the painting and attach new reinforcements to its original canvas with wooden stretchers for added flexibility as it continues to grow and respond to changes in temperature and humidity. After removing debris from the explosion, Birkmaier removed the varnish and the old restoration, which restored the painting to its original palette and continued to rebuild the paint loss. X-ray analysis illuminates Artemisia’s painting process to create iconic paintings.

“In my more than 30 years of career as a painting custodian, this is some of the worst injuries I’ve ever seen, and is one of the most challenging but meaningful projects I’m happy to work on,” Burkemall said. “It’s kind of like assembling a huge puzzle – painting can almost be reborn. X-ray analysis not only helps visually visually rebuild some of the details that are lost in the explosion when glass and debris destroy multiple areas of the painting.”

Getty’s exhibition will be held from June 10 to September 14. After that Hercules and Ohio The exhibition will be held at the Columbus Museum of Art from October 31, 2025 to May 30, 2026. It will then return to Getty, once the building is restored, it will be back to Sursock Palace.