Ulrich Birkmaier, chief paintings conservator at the Getty Museum, uses a cotton swab and a solvent to clean the surface of "Hercules and Omphale" by Artemisia Gentileschi, from the collections of the Sursock Palace. (Credit: © J. Paul Getty Trust)
On Aug. 4, 2020, a shockwave tore through Beirut. The explosion at the port ripped apart the Sursock Palace, a 19th-century jewel nestled in the heart of Ashrafieh. Under the rubble, a slashed painting, covered in soot and pierced with shards of glass: "Hercules and Omphale."Long overlooked, this canvas emerged in the harsh light of catastrophe. Its creator? Artemisia Gentileschi. A woman, a Baroque painter, and a pioneer of female art. Its resurrection, now triumphantly displayed at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, embodied both a masterpiece saved and the vibrant memory of two women separated by four centuries but connected by history: Artemisia and Yvonne Sursock Cochrane.Close-up details of "Hercules and Omphale" showing the damage caused by the explosion (on the left) and the almost fully restored painting (on...
On Aug. 4, 2020, a shockwave tore through Beirut. The explosion at the port ripped apart the Sursock Palace, a 19th-century jewel nestled in the heart of Ashrafieh. Under the rubble, a slashed painting, covered in soot and pierced with shards of glass: "Hercules and Omphale."Long overlooked, this canvas emerged in the harsh light of catastrophe. Its creator? Artemisia Gentileschi. A woman, a Baroque painter, and a pioneer of female art. Its resurrection, now triumphantly displayed at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, embodied both a masterpiece saved and the vibrant memory of two women separated by four centuries but connected by history: Artemisia and Yvonne Sursock Cochrane.Close-up details of "Hercules and Omphale" showing the damage caused by the explosion (on the left) and the almost fully restored painting (on...
