Beautiful 'lost' art masterpiece will be destroyed next week
Talks took place about options for rescuing the work but no solution could be found. The final blow came when Historic England, who had fast-tracked an application to have it listed, decided it should not be
A beautiful piece of artwork "hidden" in an empty school will not be saved. The Manchester Evening News reported last month that plans to demolish the school where the fresco is had been halted for two weeks.
Talks took place about options for rescuing the work but no solution could be found. The final blow came when Historic England, who had fast-tracked an application to have it listed, decided it should not be.
It is a mural by Hungarian artist, George Mayer-Marton, who emigrated to England to save his work from the Nazis, when he was living in Austria in the later 1930s.
The fresco from 1954, The Five Joyful Mysteries of the Virgin's Rosary, filled a whole wall at St Ambrose Barlow RC School in Swinton. The school has been shut for 14 years and is to be bulldozed so the site can be used for affordable housing.
The building, in Shaftesbury Road, is now owned by Salford City Council as the school relocated to a brand new site in Wardley. Demolition was due to start today (Monday June 30) but was delayed until July 14 while the council sort the opinion of experts on whether the work was worth saving.
Meanwhile the great nephew of the artist, Nick Braithwaite, made an application for the mural to be listed on June 26th. He was able to colourise a picture of the work. It shows vividly how stunning the fresco is.
In the 1990s the work was inexplicably plastered over, and it has remained forgotten, out of sight. It would take a huge amount of money to remove the coverings and retrieve and preserve the mural.
In his application for the school to be listed, Nick wrote: "The building was designed by W&RB Ellis who also designed the Grade II Listed Church of the Holy Rosary at Fitton Hill in Oldham and which also contains a mural by George Mayer-Marton.
"The entrance hall to the school contains a fresco by the artist George Mayer-Marton (1897-1960) which was a present from the architects to the school. It is the only surviving fresco (without mosaic alongside) by the artist, and it is unusual and possibly unique in the UK in being in the buon fresco medium (painted onto wet plaster).
"It is of significant artistic value according to expert opinion. The fresco has been plastered over but is believed to be salvageable by expert Thomas Organ who was responsible for the salvage of the Feibusch Mural, Pilgrim's Progress in Eastbourne."
Experts said uncovering to reveal the fresco could take 10 – 15 days per square metre, including final cleaning and localised retouching, requiring a budget of £150,000 – £225,000. Further trials to determine the safest way to uncover the painting would have been required.
Clare A.P. Willsdon, Professor of the History of Western Art and Head of History of Art, School of Culture and Creative Arts at the University of Glasgow, says of the mural: "If the mural is one of Mayer-Marton’s very few surviving large-scale works (his studio contents were destroyed in the Second World War, and there are no known remaining murals by him in Austria), it is also one of his most playful images."
The current head of St Ambrose Barlow RC High, Ben Davis, became aware of the mural while researching the school's history for its 70th anniversary. He said: "I did contact Save Britain's Heritage, who also contacted the council, and were in discussion with them. I wish there had been a way to save it years ago. The bottom line is it should never have been covered up."
A spokesperson for Save Britain's Heritage which had been in talks with the council said: "“We understand that work is due to start on site on 14th July. We are in talks with the council and the community group to try and help find a solution to salvage the mural.”
A spokesman for Salford City Council said: "Following the designation decision from Historic England, we are proceeding with the demolition contract on the 14th July."
A Historic England spokesperson said: “While we recognise that the fresco painted by George Mayer-Marton in the former St Ambrose Barlow Secondary School building in Swinton was a piece of art by an artist whose work is recognised as being of significance in a national context, after careful consideration, we did not take the application for the school forward for a full assessment because there is significant uncertainty regarding the survival of George Mayer-Marton’s artwork.”