|
By Rebecca Smith ’99
It was at Holy Cross that Susan Costello ’96 first discovered the field of art conservation. A chemistry major and an art enthusiast, she credits Professor Jody Ziegler’s architectural history course with introducing her to this intriguing profession.
“Once I started looking into it,” she recalls, “I realized that it was the perfect job for me because it combines studio art, art history and chemistry—my three loves.”
Today, Costello, the Samuel H. Kress Fellow in Objects Conservation at the Worcester Art Museum, is currently restoring a rare fourth-to-third-century B.C. sculpture. Soon after earning her master’s degree in art conservation at the University of Delaware in a joint program with the Winterthur Museum, she was approached by the Worcester Art Museum with a yearlong Crest Foundation grant to restore the precious artifact.
One of only 30 such pieces in the world, the terra cotta statue of a mourning woman comes from the Magna Graecia area in Southern Italy, which had been colonized by the ancient Greeks 2,500 years ago. Archeologists believe that orants, or standing figures in prayer, like this one, were placed around the bodies of wealthy Greeks and sealed in tombs, along with other symbols of riches, such as jewelry, armor and vases.
The sculpture was purchased by the museum in 1927 from a London dealer, but it was broken in transit and subsequently placed in storage; almost forgotten, the piece was recently discovered in the museum’s basement.
Costello’s task of reassembling the artifact required that she first remove years of past restoration materials. That the statue is unfired made this effort especially challenging because she could not clean it by hand without removing parts of the original work. Drawing on her chemistry background, Costello used a special laser to clean the piece without harming its surface. The next phase will be the actual reconstruction of the 95-centimeter-high statue. To accomplish this, Costello will fill in losses with ceramic that she will paint to match the original coloring.
“It’s in approximately 100 pieces right now,” she says. “It’s as if I’m putting together a 3-D puzzle!”
When she is not doing treatments, Costello is conducting background research, writing reports and taking photographs of the statue. Everything she does to the piece is well documented and completely reversible.
“Art conservation is very exact work that requires a lot of patience,” she explains. “But the rewards that come from such an exciting discovery make it all worthwhile.”
The statue is scheduled to be on display this summer at the Worcester Art Museum.
|
