Restoration unearths unknown painting

updated 6:13 p.m. ET Sept. 28, 2004

BOSTON - Art conservators have uncovered an unknown painting that’s been hidden for more than a century behind a blackened canvas high inside the tower of Trinity Church.

The mural of the apostle Peter reaching inside a fish’s mouth for a coin has been concealed about 100 feet above the sanctuary at the historic stone church since it opened in Copley Square in 1877.

Workers were removing a canvas depicting the flight of the baby Jesus to Egypt when the picture was revealed last week to a collective gasp, said Emily Gardner, one of five workers who discovered the painting. Its vivid red, blue and flesh tones are striking, compared to surrounding murals that haven’t been protected over the decades.

“I think the colors were what hit me most, just the brilliance in reference to the other ones,” said Gardner, a conservation assistant at Gianfranco Pocobene Studios Inc., which worked on the mural restoration.

The murals that encompass the top of the Trinity tower were painted by a team led by 19th-century muralist John LaFarge. But the hidden painting was unsigned, and it’s unclear why LaFarge covered it up.

“That’s the intriguing thing, it could be any number of things,” said John Canning, whose firm is working on the paint restoration under way at Trinity, which sits in the heart of the city’s Copley Square. “It could be unfinished. It could be a change in style. At this point we don’t totally understand it.

“You’re seeing something that was probably not meant to be seen.”

Improper gluing saved work
Trinity Church is considered one of the most architecturally significant buildings in the country, pioneering an American style in which the building’s exterior and interior decoration were conceived in unity. The building’s sanctuary features intricate stained glass and domed ceilings, called apses, below the tower.

The ongoing restoration is part of a $53 million project to preserve the church, which remains an active Episcopal congregation and hosts 100,000 tourists a year.

The hidden painting of Peter refers to a passage of Scripture in Matthew, Chapter 17, in which Jesus tells Peter he will find a coin needed to pay the temple tax in the mouth of the first fish he catches.

Water and pollution that seeped through the tower over the decades damaged the mural that covered the painting. But the painting was preserved, in part, because the canvas was improperly glued to the plaster wall on which the mural appears. Adhesive was applied to just the canvas, and not the plaster as well, said Brigid O’Brien, who also helped uncover the painting. As a result, the glue didn’t adhere as tightly to the plaster and the canvas could be removed without destroying the mural.

The mural’s discovery shows that LaFarge was figuring out the design as he went, said Jean Carroon, an architect at Goody, Clancy and Associates, which is overseeing the restoration project.

The mural “is just another clue to what we’re trying to figure out: ’What was it originally?”’ she said.

The church will need to decide soon whether to re-cover the hidden painting or preserve it somehow — scaffolding is set to be dismantled by late November.

The fact that the painting was covered may be an obvious indication that LaFarge would prefer it remain unseen. But speculation that the mural was created by a rival of LaFarge named Francis Davis Millet raises the possibility of political motives for hiding it, said Joan Norris, a consultant with the mural restoration project.

Katherine Bachman of the building committee said the church will consult with an array of experts before making any decisions. Preservation is serious work, she added, but the mural’s discovery carries a thrill of connecting with those who built Trinity decades ago.

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