LAREN.- Singer Laren has restored The Thinker by Auguste Rodin. The work was carried out by the University of Amsterdam’s Department of Conservation and Restoration in the Ateliergebouw (the Rijksmuseum’s new conservation studio) in the Dutch capital. The restoration aimed to recover the external appearance of the seriously damaged sculpture.

Rodin’s The Thinker, along with six other bronze statues, was stolen from the sculpture garden of Singer Laren on 17 January 2007. It was recovered two days later much the worse for wear. A committee of external experts deliberated on the future of The Thinker and concluded that the statue was well worth restoring so that it could regain its symbolic value for the collection of Singer Laren. The committee recommended that The Thinker be subject to a responsible and supervised reversible restoration with as few interventions as possible.

In the restoration process, questions into the sculpture’s original history and shape, the ethics of restoration and the materials used were crucial and weighed constantly in the decision-making. A committee of experts supervised the restoration process. Now, the restored statue will occupy a place in the permanent collection of the museum, and its history will be profiled in its presentation.

The ‘Ateliergebouw’ (Studio-building) in Amsterdam is a joint undertaking of the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage, the University of Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. In the course of the restoration, intensive collaboration were sought with the Musée Rodin in Paris. The restoration started in 2009.