Article from Number 44 - 2020 - Restoration, restitution and creation. The painter Ferdinand Wagner and the wall decorations of the courtyard at the palace of Monaco at the end of...
According to the testimony of Millin, naturalist who came to Monaco 1813, the courtyard’s frescoes were very damaged and “almost entirely erased”. Indeed, when Charles III ascended the throne in the middle of the 19th century, these paintings created in the mid-16th century, needed an urgent restoration. That is the reason why he undertook to restore his residence and turn it back to the mirror of sovereignty.
In 1864, through his brother-in-law the count of Württemberg, the prince appealed to an Augsburg history painter and representative of the Nazarene current, Ferdinand Wagner. The latter got down to the task until 1868 and has been succeeded by two compatriots, Fröschle and then Deschler who worked until 1874. After this time, the four facades of the courtyard went metamorphosed.
Those painters were undoubtedly guided by the remains but also had to be creative to restore a continuous and coherent decoration.
Text in French