Painted wall panels commissioned by John Henry Newman have been removed from University Church, in St Stephen's Green, Dublin, and are in the process of being replaced by acrylic replicas, courtesy of the Government.
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, who arranged €120,000 funding for the project, will inspect the bright new panels next Wednesday, in the first of a series of celebratory events to mark the 150th anniversary of the basilica-style church.
Conservationists have expressed dismay the original panels depicting the lives of St Peter and St Paul, copied from Raphael's tapestry in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, were being replaced with brand-new pictures.
But parish priest Fr Pearse Walsh said the mid-19th century panels had become so blackened they were "like big, dark clouds hanging over us", and all he was trying to do was to "make Newman's vision a reality".
Newman, who founded the Catholic University of Ireland, paid for the wall panels painted by two relatively unknown French artists. He believed their colours would last forever.
But the panels, interspersed with pictures of the 12 apostles copied from originals by Raphael's pupil Julio Romano at the Tre Fontane Abbey in Rome, had been stuck to the walls with latex which leaked through the canvas.
"They had become illegible," Fr Walsh said, adding that Andrew O'Connor, then chief conservator at the National Gallery, had advised they could not be restored. With the 150th anniversary looming, the parish priest thought it was "now or never".
He approached the Taoiseach and got funding from the Department of Finance for the project, which is being carried out by the Office of Public Works (OPW).
Given that the church is a protected structure, a declaration had to be obtained to exempt the alterations from planning control. This was granted by Dublin City Council, but was subject to international advice on whether the originals could be restored.
"I'm not a vandal. I'm not Attila the Hun. I'm not out to wreck the church," Fr Walsh told The Irish Times.
Pat Murphy, the art collector and former chairman of the Arts Council, who is advising the OPW, said the copies were made in New York from the originals in Rome by artists working with Brian Maguire, professor of art at the National College of Art and Design. The work was largely done in an old brewery in New York. He had seen it and was very impressed. "People will be stunned when they see the new panels, they're so bright."
Ironically, the restoration of Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel some years ago was also a focus of controversy, with critics claiming the work of the great Italian master had been so thoroughly restored that it looked alarmingly new.
Nick Sheaff, director of the Irish Georgian Society, said it was "a matter of regret" that the painted panels commissioned by Newman were being replaced. "The fact that they are being kept for further international inspection makes a lot of sense," he said.
