PINTURAS OCULTAS EN LA CAPILLA DEL REAL COLEGIO-SEMINARIO DE CORPUS CHRISTI DE VALENCIA (ESPAÑA): PARA UN NUEVO PUNTO DE VISTA SOBRE EL PROCESO ICONOGRÁFICO

The overall study objective is to understand the process of the production of mural paintings of the Main Chapel of the Real Colegio-Seminario of the Corpus Christi of Valencia (Spain). The most recent researches confirm that the technique used is a fresco, realized between 1597 and 1605 by the Genoese Bartolomeo Matarana. Nevertheless, new hidden details of paintings emerge behind the Altar, of which archival research does not return significant data. The method used for the study of these paintings provided for a series of inspections, aimed at qualitatively documenting the state of the paintings; subsequently, significant samples were taken for laboratory tests; finally, the samples were examined at the stereomicroscope with the aim of identifying the pictorial technique used. The first results confirmed that the hidden paintings, different in design and characteristics from those displayed, were not made with fresco technique but with a “secco” technique and gilding. It leads to the conclusion that the Chapel of the College was affected by several pictorial phases following an iconographic program which was agreed in stages, for which it was necessary to apply different conformations and drawing techniques, in contrast to what has been said so far.