West’s Monumental Painting‘Lazarus’ Restored

HARTFORD — After 15 months of restoration, a monumental canvas by Benjamin West, the 18th Century artist regarded as the “father of American painting,” will be the subject of an exhibition at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art from June 18, 2005 through April 9, 2006.

“Restored to Life: Benjamin West’s ‘The Raising of Lazarus’” documents the anatomy of this complex conservation project, which returns the painting to its original splendor as well as to public view for the first time in 50 years.

On Friday, June 24, the museum will host “Conserving Benjamin West’s ‘The Raising of Lazarus,’” a special gallery talk by chief conservator Stephen Kornhauser. The gallery talk will begin at noon and is included with museum admission.

West’s 1780 depiction of the biblical scene (Book John II) is among the largest paintings in the atheneum’s collections. Long ago, the weight of the aging canvas, which measures 8½ by 10 feet, caused its edges to tear, making it unsafe to display.

No art museum is immune to dust and grime either, and “Lazarus” had accumulated both. Beneath the dirt a thick varnish had turned brown, obscuring what two centuries ago was described as “coloring full and bold.”

In August 1900, J.P. Morgan presented West’s “Lazarus” as a gift to the Wadsworth Atheneum. Some New Yorkers were sorely disappointed, having believed Morgan would give the painting to the Cathedral of St John the Divine. A New York City press clipping (newspaper name and date unknown) stated, “It is thought only natural, however, that Mr Morgan should present this picture to his native city and to the Atheneum.”

The September 6, 1900 edition of The Connecticut Courant (now The Hartford Courant) described the painting as “a dignified and noble work of art, very impressive and … familiar to the public for many years by prints and other reproductions. It has a luminous background which affords contrast to the rich colorings of the robes of the many life size figures, grouped about the tomb of Lazarus, witnessing the great miracle. The faces are solemn in their expression of awe and wonder, but there is nothing gruesome about the treatment of the theme.”

The Wadsworth Atheneum owns two other paintings by Benjamin West, “Una and the Lion” (1771), inspired by Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene, and “Saul and the Witch of Endor (1777), based on the Old Testament tale.

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, at 600 Main Street in Hartford, is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 am to 5 pm, and Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. On the first Thursday of each month, the museum is open until 8 pm.

Visit www.WadsworthAtheneum.org or call 860-278-2670 for information about exhibitions, programs, memberships, parking, and the ART shuttle.