Open Doors’ Day of the Department of Restoration Dubrovnik will be held on Thursday, 8 December 2022, in the summer villas Stay and Kaboga at Batahovina. The programme starts at 11:30 hours in the salotto of the summer villa Kaboga by an exhibition by the counselling conservator-restorator Neda Kuzek ‘Passepartout for the painting of St. Catharine of Siena from the Dubrovnik Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary’ and is to be followed by socialising in the premises of the Institute with the presentation of the works of the Institute and professional guide tours in the restoration ateliers from 12:30 to 18:00 hours.

Nada Kuzek, ‘Passepartout for the Painting St. Catherine of Siena from the Dubrovnik Cathedral of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary’

Paintings are not only there to be looked at; they are complex works of art and require a deeper understanding. The Passepartout of information and meaning is put around every work of art. The author of the presentation invites us to delve into it. Such comprehensive understanding is a precondition for the love for heritage and for taking a due care about it. Thanks to a comprehensive understanding of the screening techniques, the visitors will have the chance to see all of the layers of the painting ‘St. Catherine of Siena’, whose conservation and restauration was the impetus to organise this presentation.

Interesting snippets about the life of St. Catherine of Siena will be presented as well as her importance as a writer. In the context of the 18th century, when the painting was made, the author will also introduce the public to a series of painters from Venice, Naples and Dubrovnik. Expert review and interpretation of the painting is contained in the works of Croatia’s best art historians who have written about this painting.