Conservator František Xaver Beneš (1816-1888). An unknown personality in the beginnings of the monument protection in Bohemia
Abstract
František X. Beneš was a technician and manager of a sugar refinery, but following his interests, he also became an expert in the art history.
From 1854, he cooperated with the Central Commission as a conservator responsible for the district of Čáslav/Tschaslau, east of Prague. His work included such important monuments as St.
Barbara's Church in Kutná Hora/Kuttenberg or the great churches of Prague. Among the first tasks on his agenda was the former Cistercian Abbey in Sedlec/Sedletz, in the vicinity of Kutná Hora.
According to his mandate, he referred to the Central Commission on the history, architecture and decorations of the abbey and the monastery church. Paradoxically, he did not know the name of the early eighteenth-century reconstruction, Jan Santini Aichel (1677-1723).
The new part of the buildings was used by a tobacco factory, which started their renovation in 1864. The ceiling and framework above the monastery hall, although damaged, were decorated with wall paintings by the Moravian artist Judas Thaddäus Supper (1712-1771).
On 3 July 1864, the Central Tobacco Administration in Vienna requested photographs or at least descriptions of these frescoes. Similarly, the Royal Governor's Office of Bohemia asked Beneš for information on their artistic and heritage values.
The conservator then contacted a photographer from Kutná Hora, Conrad Dittrich Jr., and gave him detailed requirements for the pictures. He requested clear, detailed and particularly sharp images of five frescoes: the main painting, monochromatic oval symbols, scenes of St.
Stephen presenting sheaves for the Mother of God, Ascension of St. Alberic of Cîteaux, and Glorification of St.
Benedict. The photographs should have been arranged into sets for the Royal Governor's Office, the Central Commission, the tobacco factory, and for the Museum of the Kingdom of Bohemia.
Until 10 March 1865, when the factory planned to commence renovation works, it was not possible to successfully take the photographs. Beneš planned the next attempt and was enabled to interrupt the ongoing works if necessary.
Moreover, the conservator changed the photographer, too. But even the Prague photographer Antonín Masák described the assignment as problematic because the vaulted ceilings' height could lead to the loss of colour, plasticity and style in the pictures.
Nevertheless, he travelled to Kutná Hora to test these assumptions. On the spot, he also noticed the ammonia exhalations of tobacco which damaged the photographic material.
Masák mentioned the practice of Joseph Albert from Munich, who took pictures by dividing the photographed area into smaller parts and combining and retouching in the image. But the lack of time to take detailed photographs forced Masák to finally decline the offer.
Thus, the only information on the frescoes are preserved in books by Beneš, published in German (1867) and Czech (1884). However the artistic heritage was destroyed, this case shows the activity and method of the local conservator.
It is now regarded as one of the first projects in the beginnings of organized protection of monuments in Bohemia, carried out by its co-founder.