Often, when renovations are carried out in certain dwellings, surprising discoveries are made. Indeed, if you live in period buildings, especially in a city of art, it can happen that by removing a layer of paint on the walls, a fresco appears.
Stendhal syndrome is this feeling of astonishment, almost of fainting, in front of works of art of immense beauty. That may be exactly what happened to the man in this story, who, while renovating his home, discovered a 17th-century fresco on the kitchen wall .
Luke Budworth is a 29-year-old doctor who, while renovating his flat in Micklegate, York, UK, was stunned to see that a 17th-century mural was hiding behind a cupboard. The man had called the workers because he wanted to change the kitchen, but as soon as they moved the cupboard, they noticed that there was a drawing on the wall. The work depicts scenes from a 1635 book called Emblems , written by poet Francis Quarles . According to later analyses, it seems that the painting dates from 1660, but especially that the wall where the scenes are painted is older than the building.
“The first people to find it were the workers, who discovered it behind the kitchen cupboard. I hadn’t noticed it, I thought there were pipes. I always knew that there was a strange piece of wall, but I didn’t want to investigate, I thought it was a stain on the wall. I was very moved, I almost fainted. At first I thought it was old Victorian wallpaper, but soon realized it was actually a painting on the wall . around 1660 , so from the time of the Civil War, and that it even withstood disastrous events.”
‘I discovered a 400-year-old mural while renovating my kitchen’ https://t.co/OBWQmVFckD
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 19, 2023
As soon as he saw it, he immediately took all necessary precautions, first making an impression and then covering it to prevent it from being hit by sunlight.
“I think this is a nationally significant mural, especially in the context of York, where domestic murals are rather rare. I would like word to spread and a society or student in doctorate comes forward to start a conservation project .”
An incredible discovery, don’t you think?
Source used:
https://twitter.com/LukeWBudworth
https://twitter.com/MailOnline