A report has been buzzing on social networks for a week. It depicts an amateur painter, who tried to restore several canvases. Garish colors and naive patterns… The man would have “massacred” them, believe Internet users.
“Proud to be Haut-Marnais but not on this one”, “help”, “it looks like a subject of Groland”, can we read on the networks after the report of France 3 Champagne-Ardenne, devoted to one-day restaurateur Patrick Quercy, on March 25th.
Retired, this resident of the town of Chatonrupt-Sommermont (Haute-Marne), near Troyes, was able to indulge in a new hobby: the restoration of paintings. The mayor entrusted him with fourteen, Stations of the Cross found in July in the tower of the Saint-Brice church.
“The damage is done”
Peeling paint, faded patterns, rickety frames… The paintings have spent several decades in anonymity, in a corner of the church, without any protection. And have thus deteriorated considerably.
To avoid a refurbishment budget that is too expensive for the municipality, Joël Agnus, mayor of Chatonrupt-Sommermont, has therefore entrusted their restoration to Patrick Quercy, who has volunteered. The latter started with 40 euros of material per canvas, financed by the town hall.
Patrick Quercy
Joël Agnus regrets today having given his agreement, as he confided to Figaro: “It started from a good feeling, but that’s how it is, the damage is done.” Because the paintings, representing the ascent of Christ to Calvary, date from the middle of the 19th century.
“These were canvases made in a hurry, in series”, and unsigned, argued Patrick Quercy at Le Figaro. “It’s as if we had found them at the recycling center, they could very well have ended up burned as they were in a state close to destruction. Another mayor would certainly have done it, by the way.”
A popular restaurant
If the inhabitants of Chatonrupt-Sommermont appreciated the restoration work of Patrick Quercy, who says he “brought the paintings up to date”, Internet users largely reacted and shared their shock.
Especially since out of the fourteen, only two canvases are still in their original state. “In fact, it’s to keep people awake during mass… Everyone’s eyes are so stung that no one sleeps anymore,” laughs a surfer on Facebook.
For its part, the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs (Drac) Grand-Est only became aware of the existence of these Stations of the Cross late.
These should have been the subject of a report to the prefect, but failures could be noted “at all levels”, pleaded Joël Agnus, mayor of the town for thirty years, who specified that he had never faced such a situation.