Bratislava – Museum of History at Bratislava Castle (Portrait of Juraj Haulik)
This is Juraj Haulik, or at least about 70% of him, seen here emerging stoically from a canvas that’s spent the last century doing battle with humidity, moths and what I assume must have been a particularly enthusiastic caretaker with a mop. Once the Archbishop of Zagreb and later its very first cardinal, Haulik doesn’t look too put out by the state of his portrait, and to be honest neither am I. It has a certain battered charm, like a 19th-century version of one of those sofas that’s been in the family for decades and may or may not be partly held together by hope.
Conservators might struggle to look at it, but I rather like it as it is. There’s authenticity in all those cracks and scars and you could restore it but then you’d lose that rather lovely sense that it’s endured several empires, two World Wars and possibly a badly controlled climate system in a dusty museum basement at some stage.
Juraj Haulik was born in what’s now Slovakia in 1788, he eventually rose through the clerical ranks to become Archbishop of Zagreb, a position which, in true Austro-Hungarian fashion, came with elaborate robes and a sceptre of some sort. He was known for supporting Croatian national identity at a time when it wasn’t exactly fashionable in Vienna, which probably earned him a few awkward silences at imperial dinners.
The panel by the painting states that it’s going to be restored and there’s a very modern urge to fix things, to polish and restore until they gleam again. But sometimes, a bit of wear and tear tells a better story than any pristine restoration could and it may not be perfect, but it’s real and authentic. I hope that the museum leaves it just as it is.