27 The Annunciation retable This state of being relatively untouched, neither by the restorer’s hand nor by the usual reworking, means that we can clearly see the traces of normal ageing over the last 400 years. The situation is aggravated by climatic stress on the materials of the retable, extensive wood pest infestation of the wooden construction, and damage to the painting caused by bats. The bats used a hole in the painting as an entry, nesting behind the painting and damaging the surrounding substance with their droppings. The painting itself had in the past already been restored once. Two patches on the back and numerous mismatching retouches and overpainting bear witness to this. In addition, the historical strainer frame had been modified into a stretcher with wedges. The canvas edges had become very brittle due to the repeated removal from the stretcher and the re-stretching of the painting. The paint layer is brittle, adhesion to the canvas very weak, thus flaking and losses appeared all over. The condition was critical, particularly in view of the partially rotten wood substance and the severe damage to the polychrome surfaces and the painting. Despite everything, the retable still made a powerful impression on the viewer. Fig. 31: Predella, detail; damage due to insect attack
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