296 Apuntes del Alcázar de Sevilla
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Cupid. Henceforward, we find foliages and curtains with hideous
masks and wedding rings pending from mirrors. Other similar ver-
sion includes curtains instead of masks, and wedding rings instead
of pendants with mirrors. Here we find snakes next to Cupid, sur-
rounded by pendants with mirror again, symbolizing the triumph of
the altruist, spiritual, forever and true love, related to conjugal love,
symbolized by wedding rings.
The other model shows the Grutesque figure of an emaciated
winged Hermes, half-winged man, half-stem nonsensically wear-
ing a vase on his head, ornamented with snakes and birds, pending
curtains and ribbons with mirrors and tassels, together with a group
of four human figures under a canopy, in attitude of disagreement.
On one side, we find a woman and a man both naked, on the legs
of a creature half-centaur and half-snake. On the other side, there is
another naked man, half-human and half-snake looking with bellig-
erence to another man who is scared and bended knee. This group
of figures is placed above a golden (ochre) calyx, flanked by birds and
vegetal foliage. Underneath them, there are diverse objects linked
with masks, foliage, curtains and ribbons from which a mirror with
tassels is pending. The female naked figure seems to be Aphrodite,
symbolising carnal desire, next to her lover Ares. The composition
could be interpreted to represent the selfish love based on desire and
lust, referred by the legs of the centaur where the figures are lean-
ing on. As a whole, we consider this composition an allegory of the
desire as an element of discord and struggle of interests.
In summary, the vault contains two different perspectives of love.
On one side, the altruist and spiritual view is represented by harmo-
ny and conjugal alliances. On the other side, the selfish type of love
is represented by desire, lust and discord. Both of them are equally
combined and alternated among the wall coverings of the vaults, im-
bued with contrast and duality.
With respect to the ogival arches, we can remark the fact that they
are fully painted and nowadays there are significant traces which
guide us to reconstruct the initial decoration. In the internal side
of the Eastern wall a curious, even anecdotic, scene has been found,
which represents a dog being swallowed by a (carnivore) flower and
confronting a heron. In the mullion of the Eastern arch, the numer-
ous remains lead us to classify a purist architectonic decoration,
based on triangular and round geometrical shapes simulating cov-
erings of marble panels, in contrast to the jumbled and figurative
composition of the dome.
The
state of preservation
of the vault and the arches, before the in-
tervention was very precarious as a whole, due to diverse disrupting
factors which coupled had caused significant and serious damages.
The humidity is one of the most significant disrupting factors for
the vault. This has been revealed as a consequence of persistent and
direct filtration during the rainy season, coming from the fountain
placed on the upper floor, causing leaks at the keystone of the vault
and runoffs in some wall coverings, with the resulting mechanical
damage due to the weakness of the mortars. Damages have ended
in partial disintegrations, holes, lack of adhesion and functionality
as a consequence of the loss of grip, bulges and cavities. Among the
damages, the most difficult to diminish was the carbonated crust
spread over the pictorial surface as a time-consuming process of
elimination, complicating the cleaning intervention. Humidity has
also generated an invasion of microorganisms as a consequence of
moisture retentions. Therefore, it was necessary to offset the prob-
lems derived from the filtrations coming from the upper fountain
and the flooring of the area, before implement the intervention at
the vault, repairs undertaken by the staff from the
Alcaz
á
r
supervised
by the Management Board.
Other of the main disrupting factors have been those caused by the
former interventions undertaken in the vault at the end of nine-
teenth and twentieth centuries, due to the uncontrolled use of the
cement mortars in the repair at masonry and covering. This is the re-
sult of the rapid intervention to seal holes, fill lacunas and avoid the
loss of mortars. However, it has had consequences for the weak pri-
mary coating, causing cracks, sulphate stains and mechanical stress.
The consecutive whitewash presented by the vault, applied in sev-
eral occasions, was even more ancient, undertaken in the late eigh-
teenth and nineteenth centuries with the probable purpose of pre-
serve the paintings, or conceal the damages and the decadent state
of preservation presented by the polychrome, like at the two vaults
of the area of the
Ba
ñ
os
. The vault had thick coats which have hid-
den the decoration of these magnificent paintings for decades.
CONSERVATIVE REFURBISHMENT
These vaults with mural paintings of the central galleries have come
in a decayed state of preservation to the present time, mainly be-
cause of the disrupting factors which have affected these particu-
lar vaults. In the first place, humidity is the main disrupting factor,
widely appeared in the subterranean surfaces. In the second place,
the consequences of the non-orthodox antrophogenic actions ex-
ecuted with inappropriate materials or equipment, lack of technical
rigor as we have verified.
As the primary goal, we have considered the necessity to intervene
the vaults whose flaws could risk the stability of the stratums and
its compositional values, with an aim of preservation and safe-
guarding the cultural, historical and artistic value of these artworks
themselves, due to the bad conditions in which these paintings have
come to the present time. Emergency actions have dealt with the
avoidance of immediate losses and the neutralization of the damage
caused, always from the preservative perspective.
When interventions are undertaken in mural paintings in situ, it is
for sure that the same disrupting factors detected, unless conscien-
tiously eliminated, usually appear once again. That is why we give
the central place to repair the damage and neutralize those factors
concurrently.
Regarding the intervention of the three vaults, they needed a first
action to maintain the primary elements which have survived the
dangerous uncontrolled cleanings, non-governed by an ethical code.
This first action was aimed to affix, consolidate, clean and protect.
Concerning the cleaning process, it has dealt with the elimination
of coats and added materials, which complicated the visibility and
interpretation of the global composition, reaching the traces pre-
served from the original composition. The process of attachment
of the loose fragments and internal consolidation has restored the
stability of the corroded coats lacking adhesion each other and wall
mounting. The desalinisation tasks have been fundamental and nec-
essary to eliminate brackish coats, as well as to disinfect those areas
presenting bio-deterioration. The reconstruction of the mortar loss
has been focused on the unification of the more and less significant
