Date completed : 10 February 2020 Duration : 12 Weeks
Henry Matthews

The painting was surface cleaned, at both front and back, and the very discoloured oleo-resinous varnish removed. Localised areas of raised, fragile paint were faced prior to cleaning and then locally consolidated as cleaning progressed. Minor tears and damages to the canvas were locally repaired and supported, a canvas infill was precisely shaped and secured to a large loss at the centre top edge, the canvas was then de-stretched. The degraded canvas was supported and the fragile areas of flaking secured with a full lining, which was carried out on our vacuum lining table. The lined canvas was then re-stretched to the repaired original stretcher and the keys were secured. An isolating varnish layer was applied, losses were then filled and retouched before final varnishing.

Damages and losses to the frame were filled and retouched. The standard picture glass was replaced with Ultra Violet-blocking low-reflective museum glass. A softwood build-up was secured to the back of the frame to accommodate the depth of the painting and glazing ensemble; a flexible, lightweight but robust backing was then applied to the reverse to protect the painting during transit and display.

Whole front before treatment
Detail, faced flaking
Detail, raking light, flaking
Detail, discoloured resin in paint texture
Detail, during varnish removal
Detail, reverse, canvas infill
Whole front during lining
Whole front after treatment
Whole back after treatment
Whole front after treatment, framed

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