The Salon

The Salon is on the first floor of the house, mainly overlooking calle Isabel II and the Governor’s Palace (Palacio del Gobierno Militar) on the opposite side of  the street.  

During the total refurbishment of the property after its purchase by the Reynolds Foundation, by chance it was discovered that there were murals hidden behind the wall-paper of the Salon’s walls. Following preliminary investigations in January 2009, the first stage of the remedial treatment was carried out in seven major phases from 2010 to 2015.  The principal conservators were Lisa Shekede and Stephen Rickerby; assistant conservators were Viviana and Nadir López Novell.  

This first stage involved the uncovering, conservation and cleaning of a wall painting on the south wall of the Salon.  After carrying out a series of pigment analyses on the work, the results show that the painting must have been started after 1828, due to the presence of pigments that existed only after that date.  The painting (4.42m by 6.86m), of unknown authorship, depicts a panoramic maritime scene which centres on a depiction of Fort Sant Felip.  Boats and ships are present at the harbour entrance to Mahón, and the foreground is populated by uniformed military personnel. The painting “quotes” passages from well-known canvas paintings and engravings from this period. This renders it something of an historical fantasy, but nonetheless a most unusual historical record.  

During, probably, the early 20th century, the paintings were entirely concealed by highly-embossed, golden-patterned wall-paper, in accordance with the trends of the time.

The removal of the paper without causing damage to the wall-paintings has been a time-consuming and delicate operation, involving pre-consolidation of the painting through the wall-paper, following by gradual removal of the paper in a number of sequential steps. 

From 2012 the later stages were undertaken, to disclose the paintings on the east, north and west walls; again the work was carried out by Viviana and Nadir López Novell.  The paintings here comprise columns, a series of garlands with hanging baskets containing floral motifs held up by birds, together with vases and vegetable motifs.  

The ceiling (that had not been covered, nor recently conserved) depicts a Moorish battle between Christians and Muslims, framed by a wide border that displays an inscription in floral-animal typography – Rafael Alberti i Fabrer fecit – making reference to the owner of the house at the time of the painting.  Land Registry confirms that the house came into the possession of Rafael Alberti i Fabrer on 14th February 1837.

The salon RESTORATION

The conservation work has received part-funding support from the Consell Insular de Menorca. This article is compiled from reports provided by all conservators.