This is the group’s third trip to Prague to visit the Lobkowiczes. “Site visits are an integral part of our working process,” explains Booth, “During our first visit we met with the Lobkowiczes who presented several different projects to us. This wasn’t just some project on paper. Our group spent three days not only viewing the projects, but also getting an intensive lesson in Prague’s cultural history, the Lobkowicz’s properties and priorities and their relevance. This way, when it came down to making a decision, we were extremely well-informed. This was not a decision that could have been made from a desk in Los Angeles.”

“This small group of paintings was the perfect way for us to participate,” continues Booth. “The project was contained and had a definite finish. And while the works are obviously not masterpieces, they are very important both from an historical and a cultural point of view. With our help—a donation of $28,000 over the course of two years—we have managed to bring these paintings out of storage and into the light. We were compelled to adopt this project as it was an important compilation of work done by one artist—a 16th century woman painter—and it offered the opportunity not only to restore the works which were in poor condition, but to expose them to a larger audience for the first time. The paintings had never been treated nor exhibited together, and it was an opportunity to do so.”

The 13 paintings had been in storage in the Lobkowicz’s Nelahozeves Castle, and had not been put on public display due to their fragile state. In fact, the most important work of the group, a self-portrait, was extremely fragile, torn in several places with a very brittle canvas. The paintings are all half-bust portraits of young, elegantly dressed women, from the circle of Princess Ernestine. “Our aim is not only to repair the paintings, but also to learn more about the Princess’s life, her artistic ambitions, as well as her sitters and the circumstances under which the portraits were painted,” explains Lobkowicz.

The first stage of this project, which the Friends of Heritage funded, involved the restoration of the paintings. As always, the group likes to keep things local if possible, so skilled restorer Martin Martan was employed. Over the course of 2005 all 13 paintings were photographed and documented, including infrared refelctography and x-rays. The canvases were removed from the stretchers and stabilized, and rips wre fixed. Dirt and old varnish were removed and a new coat of varnish applied. And finally the paintings were fixed onto new stretchers.