Conservation Bite! Part 3

Paintings conservator Ingrid Ford continues our series on the treatment of On the Sea-Beat Shore by William Calderon. View the first two installments here.

So onto the treatment!

Once the painting was laid out, we needed to come up with a plan on what steps we could achieve in the time the work was in the lab.

Our first step had to be to clean and consolidate the cracked and damaged paint. Constant rolling and unrolling of the work to access the back and the front meant added stress to the paint layer that we hoped to avoid.  By consolidating the damaged paint we could safely turn the painting back over to work on the repair of the tears, but that will come later!

After a number of tests to sections of the painting, we were able to determine which cleaning solution was the most effective.  Although the areas of damaged paint certainly needed to be stabilised, we had to clean the dirt off first otherwise we would be adhering dirt to the surface! 

After settling on a suitable cleaning solution, the surface dirt of general dust and grime from decades of age and storage came off easily. By rolling the damp cotton swabs over the surface we were able to remove the dirt without disturbing the fragile paint around the damaged areas.

Nel and Ingrid cleaning the paint surface

Although the swab came of dark and dirty, the overall image didn’t change much, highlighting to us just how discoloured the varnish truly was beneath the layer of surface dirt.

 

Dirt from cleaning the surface layer

As previously mentioned, many of the losses were a result of creases to the support, whereas some involved more significant and deeper losses.

Deep paint loss exposing canvas

 Paint losses caused by creases

Our next step required the consolidation of the damaged paint around the losses.  Using Isinglass, (a conservation grade fish glue) the fragile paint was carefully re-adhered to the support with a fine brush soaking the adhesive between the lifting paint and the canvas support. 

Sarah and Nel consolidating the damaged areas of paint

Having successfully cleaned and consolidated the paint layer, we were ready to turn the painting back over and tackle the repairing of the tears, but that is for the next instalment.  

Conservation Bite! Part 2

On the Sea-Beat Shore by William Calderon is now lying on two very large tables in one of the painting conservation studios. The first step is to carry out a thorough examination. We need a very good record of its current condition because once the treatment starts, we won’t be able to remember everything in detail and it would be hard to prove that new damages haven’t occurred if we were challenged. So clear documentation is to protect the painting…and us!

When recording a painting’s condition we always start with a description of the ‘support’, which is the material that supports the paint. In this case, it is a linen canvas sealed with an off-white priming layer. The paint is oil and has been applied by brush and worked up quite thickly on the figures.

 Paint losses highlighted in raking light

Originally, the painting would have been attached to a wooden stretcher to keep it taut. A stretcher is like a frame that can be expanded when required and it might have cross-bars for strength if it is very large. However, at some stage in the past, the edges of the painting have been roughly cut, taking away much of the material required for stretching. The original stretcher was also removed and disposed of.

Reverse shot of the canvas

The painting was creased while it was rolled at some stage. It is similar to what many of us have done inadvertently to a favourite poster – rolled it up without any protection and somehow it has gotten squashed. In the case of the Calderon, this has been quite severe, resulting in regular paint losses along the length of the painting, as well as small tears. Oil paint and canvas become increasingly brittle over time and more vulnerable to damage.

Detail of damages from creasing

You can imagine that trying to handle an unstretched painting this big and fragile would be extremely difficult. The best method is to roll it onto a large diameter cardboard tube (400 mm diameter in this case) so that very little stress is put on the paint layers. In addition, it is always rolled paint side out, to prevent contraction, which could cause cracking.

 Rolling up the painting

The painting has had some past repairs including masking tape on a large horizontal tear and a heavy patch for a smaller tear. Some of the worst damages we come across are restorations carried out by people who are unqualified – these are good examples. Unfortunately, poor restoration can cause permanent damage, so we recommend that people always use full members of the professional conservation organisations such as the New Zealand Conservators of Cultural Materials, who you can locate on this website.

 An old heavy patch over a small tear in the canvas

Masking tape had been used in the past to repair a large tear

Finally the painting is dirty and covered in a discoloured varnish. Natural resin varnishes yellow over time, masking the vibrancy of the colours and making everything look flat and dull. The cleaning tests highlight the difference between cleaned and uncleaned areas.

You can read part one in this series here.

Conservation Bite! Part 1

William Frank Calderon’s 1905 painting On the Sea-Beat Shore, Where Thracians Tame Wild Horses, from Alexander Pope, Homer’s Iliad has been the subject of a Conservation Bite. Conservation Bites offer visitors the opportunity to step inside the Gallery’s painting conservation studio. They have been happening every lunchtime this week, and we thought that people might be interested to follow the treatment of Calderon’s painting as it progresses.

We are not sure if the painting has ever been displayed at the Gallery, but it has been rolled up for decades and is in a deteriorated state. I hasten to add that the deterioration occurred in the distant past and is not caused by current arrangements (but more about that later)!

William Calderon On the Sea-Beat Shore, Where Thracians Tame Wild Horses from Alexander Pope, Homer's Iliad, 1905
oil on canvas, Mackelvie Trust Collection, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki 

This year the curators decided that the treatment of the painting should be a priority as the work should go on display. We have limited resources at the Gallery, so things have to be carefully considered before we take on a major treatment such as this. The size of the painting meant that it would take up the whole of the large painting conservation studio and require the work of three painting conservators for several months. It was decided that we would treat it in stages, the first part being documentation; followed by stabilisation, cleaning and repair; then finally restoration of the damages.

It is no easy task getting the painting out – it measures approximately 1.8 x 3.8 metres so you need sufficient room and plenty of hands to assist. In order to have quality digital images of the condition, the painting was laid out on the floor of the photography studio, and there Gallery photographer John McIver crawled up into his loft to take some aerial views.

Conservation at the Gallery is responsible for the care and treatment of the collection and works on loan as well as carrying out related research. There are seven of us – three painting conservators, two works on paper specialists, one objects conservator and a conservation assistant. Four of the seven conservators are part-time. Some of us are also involved in the conservation service the Gallery provides for the public on a user-pays basis.

The Calderon conservation team are Ingrid Ford, Nel Rol and Sarah Hillary.