Getty restores Artemisia Gentileschi Hercules damaged in Beirut explosion
A painting by Artemisia Gentileschi that was heavily damaged in the horrific explosion at the port of Beirut in August 2020 has been restored in the conservation studio of the J. Paul Getty Museum. It is going on display at the Los Angeles museum in Artemisias Strong Women: Rescuing a Masterpiece, a new exhibition dedicated to the work and the painstaking three-year restoration. The painting dates to around 1630 and depicts the myth of Hercules and Omphale. Hercules, sentenced by the Delphic Oracle for an accidental murder to wear womens clothing and do womens work for a year, is spinning wool while Omphale wears his Nemean lion skin and holds his club. Cupid at Hercules feet marks the moments the gender-bending hero and queen fall in love. There are records documenting Artemisia having painted several scenes featuring Hercules, but none of them were known to have survived until this one was identified after the explosion that almost destroyed it.The devastating blast, the result of a fire that broke out in a facility that stored explosive materials, claimed more than 200 lives. The fire ignited 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, creating an explosion so powerful it virtually levelled the port and blew out windows and ceilings all over the city. Many of the Lebanese capitals art galleries and museums were located close to the port, so on top of the hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, 300,000 people rendered homeless and $15 billion in property damage, the epicenter of Beiruts culture was decimated.One of the damaged art institutions was the Sursock Museum and the Sursock Palace facing it. The Sursock family rose to power as Ottoman officials and built their own private empire in real estate, banking, export and manufacturing. They were one of Beiruts most prominent Christian families and moved in the aristocratic circles of Europe and the Levant.Sursock Palace is an Italianate villa and gardens completed in 1860 by Mose Sursock, but it was Alfred Bey Sursock who in the 1920s amassed a large collection of Italian Baroque paintings thanks to his marriage to Donna Maria Teresa Serra di Cassano, scion of a Neapolitan princely family. Her father was Francesco Serra, the 7th Duke of Cassano, and her son with Alfred inherited his grandfathers title. Alfred and Donna Marias daughter Yvonne Sursock, Lady Cochrane, was a fierce guardian of the palace and its artistic patrimony her whole very long life. She was 98 years old and still living in the palace when the explosion struck. She died of her injuries 17 days later.In 1993, Lebanese art historian Gregory Buchakjian was writing his thesis for his masters degree from Paris Sorbonne University on the Sursock Palace art collection. As most of the works were unlabeled, his research focused on documenting and identifying the paintings. He thought two of the works in the palace Hercules and Omphale and a Penitent Magdalene were by Artemisia Gentileschi, and while his professors thought his argument was convincing, he didnt pursue it further at the time.Buchakjian flew to the Sursock Palace after the explosion to render any aid he could, and saw both of the paintings hed written about in his thesis in dire straights. He wrote an article about the rescue efforts and the damaged works in the palace. The dreadful realization that two rare Artemisia Gentileschi works came so close to destruction spurred art historians to view the Sursock Palace collection with fresh eyes. Buchakjians research linked Hercules to known works by Gentileschi, especially her use of very specific jewelry pieces in several of her paintings, and when other art historians and Gentileschi experts investigated, they confirmed the attribution.In a UNESCO initiative to restore Beiruts lost heritage, restoration of the Sursock Palace began in 2021, and Hercules and Omphale was sent to the Getty for conservation in 2022.The oil-on-canvas painting was rent by shattered glass from when the explosion blew out the windows of the palace. There were numerous small rips, areas peppered with lost paint chips and one large 20-inch tear down Hercules leg.When Hercules and Omphale arrived at Getty, senior conservator of paintings Ulrich Birkmaier performed a comprehensive technical examination in conjunction with the Getty Conservation Institute to address both structural and aesthetic issues and developed a conservation plan. He collaborated with Rome-based conservator Matteo Rossi Doria to reline the back of the painting, attaching a new reinforcement to its original canvas with a wooden stretcher for added flexibility as it continues to age and respond to changes in temperature and humidity. After removing debris from the explosion, Birkmaier removed varnish and old restorations, which gave the painting back its original color palette, and continued with the reconstruction of paint losses. X-ray analysis elucidated Artemisias painting process used to create the iconic painting.In my over 30-year career as a paintings conservator, this is some of the worst damage I have ever witnessed and was one of the most challenging yet rewarding projects Ive had the pleasure to work on, says Birkmaier. It was sort of like assembling a massive puzzlelittle by little the painting came back to life. X-ray analysis not only served to visualize some of the changes Artemisia made during the painting process, but it also aided in the visual reconstruction of some details that were lost in the explosion when glass and debris shattered multiple areas of the painting. The exhibition at the Getty runs from June 10th through September 14th. After that Hercules and Omphale will travel to the Columbus Museum of Art for exhibition from October 31, 2025 to May 30, 2026. It will then return to the Getty for a further loan before it goes back home to the Sursock Palace once the building has been restored.
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