Insights on the second phase of the multidisciplinary study of the Viceroys portrait gallery at Goa, India

Abstract

"Old Goa Revelations" is an international collaborative project dedicated to the research of a shared heritage collection associated to the Portuguese Presence in India (1505 – 1961). The upper halls of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) Museum in Old Goa, display the portrait gallery of these Viceroys and Governors who administrated these territories and used to commission their depictions before leaving their post. During the 400 years span of this gallery several interventions took place, leaving up to 4 full overpaints over the original compositions of the 16th and 17th centuries. Unfortunately, these can only be appreciated by comparing them with contemporaneous illustrations, which is hampered due to poor-quality restorations dating from the 19th c.: these completely altered the original paintings. The restoration process of 6 paintings in Lisbon during the 1950’s highlighted the complexity of undertaking irreversible procedures, such as the removal of repaints, in objects with such high documental value. Considering that these repaints also act as a protection of the original layers from the subtropical climate of Goa, what should be the best approach? Since 2019, The creation of a collaborative project[1] between the custodian and Portuguese research units enabled a comprehensive and multidisciplinary scientific study of the collection, supported by a mobile campaign, encompassing imaging techniques such as photography (visible and raking light), Infrared Reflectography and X-ray Radiography, complemented with non-destructive analytical approaches such as XRF spectrometry (point analysis), a Mobile macro-XRF mapping and mobile Raman spectrometry. The aims of this multidisciplinary research are the identification, characterization and contextualization of the existing layers, to assist to the interpretation of the collection, as well as it supports decision making towards long term preservation. Moreover, another important goal is the organization of a new exhibition narrative, where the public will have visual access to the information in each of these layers, allowing a different experience of the collection.