The Detective Work of Reconstructing Medieval Altar Frontals

Two works that demanded my most Sherlockian skills, as well as artistic ones

What follows are accounts of two restoration/reconstruction projects that engaged me in the 1990s. They involved reconstructing heavily damaged Medieval altar frontals, a traditional church appointment. Only thirty or so of these frontals survive in Norway. My job was to recreate two of these (the originals are now in a museum in Bergen). The work demanded both keen observation of what remains of the originals, as well as guesswork based on informed research and comparison with other existing frontals. The first of these accounts is by Kristoffer Foldøy, an art historian and contact for me throughout the project.