Infant of Prague Statue Restoration

My earliest memories of the Infant of Prague date back to my childhood.  My European-born grandmother proudly displayed her statue of the Infant of Prague in her living room along with her extensive collection of Catholic images, crucifixes and statues.

The Infant of Prague has a special place in my family, as well.  What started with one statue in our home has grown to a collection of several sprinkled throughout my home.  There's one in each bedroom, our living room and even my craft studio.  Like potato chips, we couldn't stop at just one. :)

Sadly, many Infant of Prague statues have seen their share of wear and tear over the years.  Many have broken fingers, cracked necks and other damages from being well-loved throughout the generations.  It's not uncommon to see the older statues on EBay or other sites with various anomalies.  My son purchased one-such statue from EBay which obviously saw better years.  It appeared as if someone had tried to repaint it at one time but gave up halfway through the project.  This little statue was in obvious need of some attention.  So - needless to say - I made my first attempt at statue restoration and want to share the results with you.

This is how the Infant of Prague looked before his restoration:

 
I started the restoration project by sealing the chipped areas with a glossy polyurethane.  I brushed on a thin coat of gesso over the entire statue and base-coated it with white acrylic paint.

 

I wanted my statue to reflect softer, Victorian style colors, so I painted it with pastel green and pink:

Next, I added the details and shaded the gown with colored chalk to give it some depth.  I also used gold leaf pen to highlight the details of the crown, globe and necklace.  The entire statue was sprayed with Krylon Matte Sealant:

I'm quite pleased with my first attempt at statue restoration.  Please stay tuned for information on making vestments for Infant of Prague statues on my next post.