TORN PAINTINGS
Torn paintings may seem hopeless, but often even severe damage can be made nearly invisible with the proper repair. Water damage may loosen the ground, causing loss of paint or mold growth on the surface. The artist’s technique itself may also cause problems that put the painting at risk for significant damage. All of these issues can be addressed by our skilled conservators. Each damaged and skillfully repaired painting below represented a different challenge. The challenges have been met, and the paintings can be seen once again as the artist intended.
TESTIMONIAL
Just to let you know that the icons arrived, safe and sound. I’m very pleased with the work. My thanks to all who who helped to make this project possible.
CRACKING AND LIFTING PAINT FILM
Standing nude, oil on canvas, by Milton Avery, 20th century, Private collection Connecticut, USA
The canvas was buckled and there was disfiguring sub-surface cracking in the white pigment. The painting was treated in a vapor tent to relax the paint film; the cracking paint film was then treated in a vacuum hot table with a favorable result.
Pastoral Scene with Young Couple | Example
At Oliver Brothers, helping our clients preserve their family history is a very important aspect of what we do. From portrait paintings to family documents, we conserve heritage that means the most to our clients. When a client called about conserving a painting and its original frame that had been passed down through several generations, we knew we could help.
This life-sized oil painting on canvas depicts a young couple preserved in a moment of tenderness. Over the years, the painting attained a high level of importance within the family. Each successive generation looked upon these figures with fondness and felt a connection with the generations that had preceded them.
Partially cleaned painting
After transporting the artwork to our Beverly studio, and performing our assessment, we discovered a heavy layer of dirt, grime, and yellowed varnish on the painting. We also found that the canvas itself had weakened and become brittle over time, and was starting to cause instability in the paint film. The cleaning tests left an exciting glimpse into a brightly painted pastoral scene hidden under years of discoloration. The photograph of the painting partially cleaned shows how dramatic the improvement was. Often times, clients do not notice the increasing discoloration and dulling of the colors due to the fact that they are living with the artwork and the appearance changes slowly over time.
After receiving the approval to proceed, we first removed the dirt and grime, and then the old varnish. In order to strengthen the canvas that had become weak and brittle, we lined the artwork to Belgian linen canvas with a reversable adhesive. The ability to safely undo the work we perform and “get back” to the original artwork is a very important aspect to the work we do. All works of art require periodic maintenance in order to maintain their integrity. Often times, older repairs will need to be reversed in order to properly treat the artwork.
Like the artwork, the frame was in poor condition when it first arrived at our studio. It had some losses of ornamentation, years of accumulated dirt and grime, along with discoloration from oxidized, old retouching. The restoration process for the frame included cleaning the dirt and grime, removing the old overpaint, and casting new ornamentation to replace the pieces that had fallen off. The restored frame brightened considerably to complement the newly restored painting.
Contact Oliver Brothers or call us to schedule an appointment at 617-536-2323
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