About the beginnings of restoration

The history of restoration is of great importance for the work of restorers today. Especially for the development of contemporary conservation measures:
What and how did our predecessors restore a painting and at what time and with what kind materials?

Were those measures appropriate and successful, or did they in the course of time lead to new problems?
What are the possible consequences for our conservation concept in this specific case?

Early on, restorers responsible for the Munich collections began in documenting their work in writing for their successors. For works of the Königlichen Pinakotheken (Royal Pinaktoheken) these records became the rule at the end of the 19th century.

Some restorers appear again and again in the documents of this time.
For example, Alois Hauser senior, who was appointed royal curator in 1885 and was entrusted with the care of the collection of the Alte Pinakothek. He enjoyed a great reputation even beyond Munich and was therefore also active in an advisory capacity for other collections - e.g. for the galleries in Dresden and Kassel, the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne or the Kunsthalle Basel.

Another historic figure in our collection was the painter Philipp Hieronymus Brinckmann (1709-1769). He too was active in several fields, among others as restorer for the restoration of the collection of his patron/employer Elector Karl Philipp.
Under his rule, Brinckmann was made court painter in 1733. There, as inspector of the picture gallery, he was later also responsible for the restoration.

In his residence city of Düsseldorf, the cycle was housed in a gallery building specially erected for the princely collection. The seventh scene, The Circumcision of Christ, was later lost in unexplained developments.
In the guide to the gallery from 1778, with etchings of the whole, densely hung gallery, we encounter the Series in Room IV.
The lost seventh scene is already missing then.
(ggf. die beiden Stichseiten nebeneinander und die sechs Werke irgendwie kenntlich machen)

At the time, this was a relatively new method, which, starting in Italy in the 18th century, triggered a downright restoration fashion, especially in Paris. From today's point of view it is, however, an extremely questionable measure: after all the original carrier does represent an essential, integral component of a work of art.

By the standards of his time, Philipp Emanuel Brinckmann was up to date with restoration techniques.
The fact that he left the inscription about the reawakened work on the back of the Resurrection scene testifies to his pride in his work - but perhaps also to a certain hubris.