Projects

Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, original working plan for the client’s existing Brown landscape. Private client.

An original Capability Brown ‘working’ plan, still part of the archive of the estate for which the landscape was designed. The plan was full of hidden detail showing how Brown drew, amended adjusted, used and even repaired his drawings.
The linen lining and its adhesive had tightened over the years and the paper of the plan was under a lot of strain especially where 3 layers of paper met one layer. There were large running tears and considerable cockling.
The defining aspect of the project was to alleviate this strain and repair the damage without disturbing any of the original detail. Much of this detail was very fragile, including faded ink (only visible under UV light), scoring marks, erased pencil and pin-holes, some of which was only uncovered during the project but all of which has now been preserved.
Finally the plan was mounted for framing using a parchment mounting, with flexible slotted mounts to allow the plan to ‘breathe’ and flex according to changes in humidity and mitigate the strain to the paper. The plan was then framed in a sealed conservation grade frame.