Du fragment à l'ensemble

Published to accompany the exhibition at the Université Paul Valéry, Montpellier, March 7 - April 7, 2016. The church Saint-Sauveur de Casesnoves is an old Romanesque church located in the Ille-sur-Tet, in the department Pyrénées-Orientales and the region Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrenees. Just discovered, the murals at the church of Casesnoves were torn from the walls, between March 22 and April 1, 1954. An antiquarian, Marcel Simon had specialized in the trade of this kind of artwork and had taught himself the technique of strappo, used in Italy up to the nineteenth century, and which was to glue over the painted surface with a strong adhesive coated canvas. After drying, upon pulling away the canvas it would carry with it the paint layer. Once the painting was reattached to a new specially prepared surface, the adhesive could be dissolved, the canvas removed and the painting reappeared. This way the murals could leave their walls and be placed on the art market.