Restoring of Křivák's Pietà

According to the then analyses it seemed likely that the original color of the was gray-blue. In 2005, the restoration works on Křivák’s Pietà were undertaken by Radomír Surma. 

Underneath the existing final layer of Mary’s cloak he found another layer and concluded that its original color was white. 

It is possible to say, that the very face of the Virgin Mary closely resembles the face of Madonna of Roudnice (National Gallery in Prague), painted by Master of Třeboň altar in the 1380s. 

The analysis of marlstone of which the statue is made indicated the origin of the rock in the Prague region, specifically in the defunct quarries located between Strahov and Bílá Hora.

Due to the fact that this material must be machined immediately after the extraction from the quarry to work under the conditions of the ideal percentage of moisture and also due to the fact that it can not be transported over greater distances due to its fragility...

It was apparently created in 1390s in Prague workshop, in which high-quality sculptures were made not only for domestic but also for foreign customers. 

The evidence of this is the Pietà from the Upper-Bavarian Seeon monastery (Bayerisches Nationalmuseum München), which is stylistically closest to Křivák’s Pietà from all of the surviving sculptures of this style and it was, highly likely, created in the same workshop.

It cannot be ruled out that this remarkable Beautiful Style artwork might be initially intended for the private chapel in a gothic residence of Olomouc bishops, located in the neighbourhood of St. Wenceslas Cathedral until the beginning of the 16th century.

The first stage of restoration works took place in 2005, with an emphasis on exploration and identification of the original polychromy, which task was successfully completed by microscopic analysis of probe sites.

At this stage of restoration the original white polychromy was uncovered on the obverse of the cloak of the Virgin Mary. The removal of overpaints was performed gradually layer-by-layer after chemical softening, followed by mechanical removal using a lancet.

The second phase of restoration, during which the original polychromy was uncovered on the whole took place in 2013–2014. The largest extent of removal works concerned the overpainting of incarnates and hair of Christ and the Virgin Mary.

An interesting finding was also the preservation of the cranked original thorns found in the course of the cleaning of the holes in Christ’s crown of thorns.

Furthermore, following the uncovering of overpaintings of the body of Christ and the Virgin Mary fixation points in the form of small holes were discovered, that served the Gothic sculptor as footholds stoking design templates, plumb, gauges and calipers.

At several places minor inpainting of small defects in polychromy was performed, providing unity to the original layer. 

Corrected by inpainting were especially the azurite on the reverse of the Virgin Mary’s cloak, damaged during the uncovering of overpainting in 1954, the throne with tracery and partially also the incarnates and bloodstains.

Inpainting was done by mastix colors in very fine but distinguishable structure of penciling in the case of larger defects of the bean size while minor defects, dots and scratches were inpainted imitatively. 

In conclusion, the Křivák’s Pietà statue was fortunate that unlike many other medieval works multiple color layers were applied on its surface over the centuries without destroying the oldest layer.