Rowers and people who have fallen into the sea can once again be distinguished among the ships at the Battle of Lepanto. In Granada, cleaning Domingo Chavarito’s painting has brought back small scenes obscured by dirt and oxidised varnish.
Painted in 1733, the canvas hangs in the Camarín of the Virgin of the Rosary at the Santo Domingo complex. The Camarín is a suite of rooms arranged around the sacred image and decorated with paintings, mirrors and marble. Chavarito’s work depicts the battle fought on 7 October 1571 between the fleets of the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire.
With support from the World Monuments Fund and in collaboration with Tracer Restauración y Conservación, conservator Ana Herranz removed old overpainting and oxidised varnish. She then filled losses and retouched missing areas of paint using methods that are reversible and distinguishable from the original.
The recovered details offer new material for José Antonio Palma, an art historian and member of the Rosary confraternity. Palma identifies Don John of Austria in the foreground, with Lope de Figueroa beside him. He plans to study the other figures to see whether Álvaro de Bazán and Cervantes might also be depicted.
Above the battle appears the Virgin of the Rosary. According to the convent’s tradition, Bazán took an image of her aboard his galley before the battle and returned it after the victory. In the painting, the military and devotional stories share the same pictorial space.
For Herranz, the next step is to improve the painting’s lighting. Cleaning has made the details legible again; suitable lighting would help visitors see them too.
