Restoration of "Reina Mariana" by Manolo Valdés

Manolo Valdés is an artist whose work is marked by a reinterpretation of art history and a distortion of painting. Thus, with "Reina Mariana", he renders in three dimensions the portrait of Queen Mariana, second wife of Philip IV, which had been created by Spanish painter Diego Velázquez between 1652 and 1653. From the early 1980s, Valdés worked on his "Meninas" series, guided by volumetric research and whose earliest sketches are marked by cylindrical forms, cones and spheres. His research subsequently led him to render the famous farthingale dress of Queen Mariana in his paintings and bronzes.

Valdés's work, located on the Casino terraces, presented surface alterations and bronze oxidation. It was cleaned, then sanded, before a hot patination based on iron nitrate and pigments was applied, achieving an orange-brown tint. Wax, serving as hydrophobic protection, was finally applied to protect the patina against rainwater and sea spray. This fundamental restoration, carried out with the assistance of M. Frédéric Vermorel, metal restorer and patineur, allowed "Reina Mariana" to recover its original condition.