AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Paintings Session, Thursday May 10, “Comparison Between Two Identical Portraits of Fray Camilo Henriquez” by Monica Perez.

Perez’s talk focused on the comparison and resulting attributions of two painted portraits of Chile’s beloved Fray Camilo Henriques. She first detailed the history and importance of the sitter and the painting itself (this iconographic portrait was the source of most subsequent depictions of the sitter), and then went on to describe the painting and treatment of the version owned by the Biblioteca Nacional de Chile (National Library).

The painting hangs in the private office of the director of the National Library, so very few have ever seen it and most don’t even know of its existence. In fact, it was originally assumed to be the very popular and nearly identical version painted by José Guth, prominently displayed in the Museo Histórico Nacional, Santiago, Chile (National Hist. Museum). The Guth version was actually originally owned by the National Library until it was gifted to the National Hist. Museum in 1920.

These two identical paintings raised many questions, including whether they were both painted by Guth and which one was actually the original. Of course, both institutions believed they owned the original version. Perez was able to examine the National Hist. Museum’s painting along side the National Library’s for comparison’s sake. Infrared reflectography revealed a number of telling details, including numerous compositional changes in the National Hist. Museum’s painting, which the National Library’s version lacked, and cross section analysis revealed differences in the layering structures of the foreground and background in the two paintings. This and other evidence led Perez to hypothesize that the Museum owned the original painting by Guth, and the Library’s version was a later copy. Interestingly, the Library’s painting appears to have been copied from the Museum’s painting while still in its frame, as all four edges of the copy are cropped.

A loan agreement from 1960 revealed that the Museum lent their copy to the Library for a brief period of time, during which period Perez believes the Library may have commissioned a copy to be made. No artist attribution has been made for the Library’s copy, and, as usual, this research and discovery has sparked a whole new set of questions. Fortunately the discovery has not detracted from either institution’s opinion of their work, both of which remain prominently on view in their respective locations, and other scholars have taken up researching the questions surrounding the copy.

AIC’s 40th Annual Meeting, Paintings Session, Thursday May 10, “Discriminating Palettes: The Painting Materials of Clementine Hunter and her Imitator” by Joseph Barabe

The theme of the three talks in the PSG morning session on Thursday revolved around the need for a comparative approach to the examination of works of art. Joseph Barabe’s talk perhaps best exemplifies the benefits of examining a group of works by a single artist comparatively, an approach he used to ultimately disprove the authenticity of five paintings by the African American folk artist Clementine Hunter. This talk was quite exciting as it executed technical art history as forensic science resulting in the prosecution of William Toye (the forger), his wife Beryl Toye, and dealer Robert E. Lucky for mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud (a.k.a. forging and knowingly selling forged works of art).

The FBI Art Crime Team contacted McCrone Associates Inc. seeking authentication of five questionable paintings confiscated from the Toyes’ home. Barabe approached the task methodically, comparing the five paintings in question to five authentic works purchased directly from the artist, all from around the same time period. He also had one of Clementine Hunter’s palettes at his disposal, as well as paints confiscated from the Toyes’ studio.

Using a variety of examination and analytical techniques including visual examination with magnification, examination of cross sections, and analysis of samples using polarized light microscopy and infrared techniques including FTIR and Raman, Barabe was able to document very specific differences between the two groups of paintings. His visual examinations focused on the artist’s handling of her figures’ eyes and on her signature, revealing fundamental differences in approach between the group of authentic paintings and the group in question, as well as a marked difference in paint texture and opacity. He also found consistent underdrawing in the five originals, but not in the Toyes’ paintings.

Perhaps the most interesting discovery was the disparity in paint quality between the authentic Clementine Hunter paintings and the five in question. Clementine Hunter was the granddaughter of a slave and spent the majority of her life picking cotton at Melrose Plantation in Louisiana. She remained illiterate and was a self-taught painter, selling her paintings for as little as $0.25 in the beginning and frequently trading paintings for art supplies. Despite these obvious set backs, the paints analyzed on the authentic paintings proved to be of quite good quality. The paints found on Toyes’ paintings, however, were of significantly lesser quality, consisting of mostly student grade paints containing titanated lithopone and other fillers.

The inconsistencies in the materials and artist’s technique of the five paintings in question was enough to convince Barabe, and the FBI, that they were indeed fraudulent, and now the elderly (and quite eccentric) couple are paying the price.

http://gardenandgun.com/article/talented-mr-toye

 

AIC’s 39th Annual Meeting – Joint Paintings/Research and Technical Studies Session, June 3, “Developing Cleaning Systems for Water Sensitive Paints by Adjusting pH and Conductivity” by Tiarna Doherty

As a fitting end to a conference full of great talks, Tiarna Doherty, from the J. Paul Getty Museum, wrapped up the final session of the joint PSG/RATS session at the annual meeting on Friday evening with an incredible talk about new developments in cleaning water-sensitive paintings. The project was a collaboration between herself and two others, Chris Stavroudis, conservator in private practice, and Jennifer Hickey, Graduate Intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, that aims to develop a methodological approach to cleaning water sensitive works by measuring the pH and conductivity levels of the surface of the artwork and cleaning solutions in use.

Doherty began her presentation by introducing us to the Modular Cleaning Program (MCP), a database system that has been developed to assist conservators in their approach to cleaning artworks. The MCP performs valuable computations which assist the conservator in creating cleaning solutions that take into consideration, pH, ionic strength, HLB, and the functions of surfactants, buffers, and chelating agents, within aqueous cleaning solutions. Using MCP workshops given by herself and Stavroudis as an example, Doherty highlighted how practical experience with the MCP has helped them to understand how paints interact with cleaning systems, and thus aided in their current research.

She continued by concisely explaining why they focused on pH and conductivity. First, recognizing that the pH of something as simple as water may vary widely, Doherty notes that even exposing de-ionized to air over a long period of time eventually causes the pH to lower. Likewise, carbonated water also has a low pH, but since an acrylic paint film swells at a pH of 7 and higher, the use of carbonated water has been shown to successfully clean some water sensitive acrylic artworks. Doherty finished her introduction on pH with a brief explanation of buffers and the use of acetic acid and ammonium hydroxide to adjust the pH of water for cleaning, noting that both of these components of the solution will evaporate over time without leaving a residue on the surface of the artwork.

Next, Doherty continued her talk by segueing into an introduction on conductivity. Conductivity, the ability of a solution to transfer (conduct) electric current, was recently explored as a means to evaluate the surface of an artwork during cleaning and to create/develop useful cleaning systems. In a simple manner, the conductivity of a painting’s surface can be measured by placing a small drop of water on the surface of the painting, and then transferring it to a conductivity meter after a short period of time. Doherty reported that recent research in the field has concluded that there is less swelling of a water sensitive paint surface when it is cleaned with a solution that has a of pH of 6 or lower and a conductivity of 6000 micro-Siemens.

The talk continued with two in-depth cleaning case studies on an oil painting and an acrylic painting, which were both painted in the 1960’s, and had proven to be sensitive to water. Using solutions with adjusted pH, various conductivity levels, and the addition of materials such as chelators, surfactants, and even an emulsion system containing a proprietary material called Velvasil®, Doherty’s team tested and successfully developed systems for cleaning each of the two artworks (which, to ensure accuracy of content, I will point you in the direction of the post-prints for the details of).

As Doherty concluded her talk, I couldn’t help but be a little excited about possible implications of this and future research on these topics. This talk not only raised many interesting considerations about the cleaning of paintings, but, it also revealed the practical application of a new a tool set for conservators who face the challenge of water-sensitive paintings.

Bravo Tiarna (and team), I look forward to hearing more as this project progresses.

39th Annual Meeting – Joint Paintings/Research and Technical Studies Session, June 3, “Potential Cleaning Applications of Poly(vinyl alcohol-co-acetate)/Borate gels on Painted Surfaces” by Lora Angelova & Kristin deGhetaldi

Where to begin? First let me start by saying, if you missed this presentation during the joint PSG/RATS session, then you should be sure to check out the paper in post-prints once available. The details and future potential of this research cannot likely be given its due justice in a short blog post, but I will do my best to give you the major highlights.

On the final day of the annual conference Lora Angelova and Kristin deGhetaldi presented their findings regarding recent research on Borate gels, a new aqueous co-solvent gel system for use on painted materials. This collaborative project between Angelova, a Ph.D candidate in the department of chemistry department at Georgetown University and deGhetaldi, the Andrew W. Mellon Painting Conservation Fellow at the National Gallery of Art, along with Senior Conservation Scientist Dr. Barbara Berrie and Professor of Chemistry Richard Weiss at the NGA and Georgetown, respectively, resulted in the development of a new aqueous based gel system with great potential for use by conservators in the cleaning of paintings and painted surfaces.

The presentation was first introduced by Kristin deGhetadi, who immediately hooked the audience with the highly successful results of a case study, which utilized the cleaning gels in question.

The case study involved the cleaning of a painting titled Multiple Views, a 1918 work by Stuart Davis in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. After a brief history of the work, including an antidotal account about how Davis painted the work during a three-day contest in an “atmosphere of drinking and conviviality”, deGhetaldi described in detail the before treatment condition of the work. The painting, which suffered from extensive previous restoration, was waxed lined and covered with an extremely yellowed and degraded dammar coating that analysis revealed contained not only wax, which likely migrated to the surface from the lining, but protein, polysaacharides, drying oil, and, even nicotine.

Needless to say, deGhetaldi realized that this particular coating would prove to be challenging to remove. She described her methodical approach to the treatment using the Modular Cleaning Program developed by Chris Stavroudis. After exhausting the options of traditional free solvents, various aqueous cleaning solutions, and solvent based gels, she turned to the use of an aqueous emulsion that contained Pemulen TR-2 with 5% Benzyl Alcohol. While the latter worked very well to remove the coating over much of the painting there were still areas where a particularly tenacious dark coating remained. For these local areas the Borate gels being developed by Lora Angelova were tested and used for treatment.

Working together, Angelova and deGhetaldi performed a variety of tests with the gels and adapted them to the particular problem of cleaning Multiple Views.

deGhetaldi finished her portion of the presentation describing this treatment with numerous beautiful before, during, and after treatment images and a full description of the practical use of the Borate gels, before handing the podium over to her co-presenter.

Lora Angelova began her half of the presentation by describing in detail the formation, characterization, and modulation properties of the borate gels (and the chemistry involved).

The gels are composed of a partially hydrolyzed poly-(vinyl alchohol-co-acetate) polymer that combines by cross-linking with a very small amount of borate ions. The formation of the gel is immediate and proved to be thermally stable with soft elastic properties found desirable for use in treatment. Additionally, due to the acetate groups present on the polymer, the gels allow for the use of large amounts of polar organic solvents to be incorporated into the system. Which was utilized in the case study discussed by deGhetaldi.

Angelova continued by describing several properties of the gels that may make them useful in conservation, including the fact that the gels are transparent, pliable, and as mentioned, have the ability to hold large amounts of commonly used solvents. She then went on to describe how the gels are easy to remove, leave no detectable residue, and have the ability to clean a precise area with little solvent penetration into the paint layers. Which of course grabbed the attention of the conservators in the audience.

Using the results of from a number cleaning tests and further analysis, Angelova further described testing of the prior mentioned traits. She used residue tests conducted by attaching a naturally fluorescing molecule to the polymer in the gel. This allowed for testing regarding the removability of the gel and demonstrated that no detectable residue of the gel was left behind after removal.

Finally, Angelova eloquently concluded her presentation with a brief discussion of future work and the testing that is necessary in order to fully understand and develop the use of Borate gels in conservation.

So, while these gels may not be quite ready for use in the wider world of conservation yet, as was made clear by both the author’s conclusions and some of the thought provoking questions posed by audience members, they are definitely showing great potential as a tool for conservators already and I know many, myself included, who look forward to hearing more about the results that this project produces.

39th Annual Meeting – Paintings Session, Katlan Palettes of the Salamagundi Club, Cox The longterm relationship

I was incredibly lucky with the two talks that I chose to blog about. I had tried to find some talks that were not too technical as I felt that I would not have too much to comment upon if I did not understand the science of the talk. I was drawn to the topic of the Salamagundi club because I grew up around the corner from the present day Salamagundi club in New York City. Further I was interested in Ruth Cox’s talk about fostering a long-term relationship between private conservator and a museum collection, as I am a private conservator. But enough about me and on to the talks.
In his talk about the Salamagundi Club palette collection Alex Kaltan briefly described the history of the painters palette. He discussed the rarity of palette collections and described both the Salamagundi palette collection and the Grumbacher paint company palette collection. Katlan stressed the importance of artist materials in collections and the fact that they have been overlooked in the past but that they can be invaluable additions to study collections and provide insight into the working practices of artists. The Salamagundi club collection itself is made up of both working palettes and demonstration palettes. A working palette is an actual palette that the artist worked with over a period of time and differs from a demonstration palette, which is an unused palette with the artist paint colors in the manner in which they did when painting. Katlan describes the great variation in the arrangement of color on the palette and how this arrangement gives a lot of information about the thought process of the artist.
What struck me about Katlan’s talk is how well it tied in with an earlier talk in the PSG session by Narayan Khandedkar about the working habits and palette of Delacroix. Also I was touched by how these objects are a personal link to the artist workings methods.
The second talk by Ruth Baruch Cox outlined her long-term relationship with the Reynoldo House Museum. Cox explains that she functions as more than a treatment conservator at this institution where she has done 2 conservation surveys and created a disaster plan in addition to performing several conservation treatments.
The rest of the talk focused on the treatment of Spring Turning by Grant Wood. The treatment was complicated by Woods varnishing practices and former treatments. The museum has produced a video about the treatment and a brochure on the care of paintings.
I was disappointed that there was not more about the long-term relationship between the conservator and the museum. It seems that the talk about the treatment of the Grant wood is a separate topic from the long-term relationship with the museum. However that is just my personal view as I am a conservator in private practice and I also try to foster meaningful long-term relationships with my museum clients.
Overall I was very impressed with the quality of these two talks.

AIC’s 39th Annual Meeting – Paintings Morning Session on June 3, “Industrial Literature as a Resource in Modern Materials Conservation” by Dawn V. Rogala

Artists working in the post-WWI era frequently used industrial products in their work.  This can put conservators in the position of dealing with materials with unknown compositions and behaviors that are not conducive to long-term preservation.  Unfortunately, existing conservation literature does not always provide adequate materials information or case studies for conservators wrestling with these issues.  Expanding literature searches to include period industrial articles can fill in those informational gaps.

Dawn Rogala discovered the benefits of such industrial literature while researching mid-century American oil-based zinc oxide house paint during her postgraduate fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.  Her research focused on a group of abstract expressionist paintings and the relationship between their zinc oxide grounds and failure of the paint layers.  She found that industrial literature provided significant evidence of a connection between the choice of materials and the current unstable condition of the paintings.

The period between 1925 to 1950 provided Rogala with the most useful articles, likely due to market demand and frequent product adaptation during that time.  The largest percentage of articles she found were presented by representatives of the paint manufacturers who were focused on promoting the benefits of their paint to consumers.  Those may seem like biased and unreliable sources for accurate information, however such articles often mentioned engineered mechanical behaviors that were considered beneficial in their paint films.  Approximately 25% of the articles in her research were affiliated with scholarly research.  Those articles provided more comprehensive and practical analyses of paint film behaviors with useful reference bibliographies.

Weathering test articles were another rich source of information on paint formulations and behaviors.  The variations in regional weather often caused adaptations in regional paint formulations.  This meant that artists working with a zinc oxide house paint in a mild climate may have worked with an entirely different formulation of zinc oxide house paint than an artist working in a more severe climate during the same period.  It also suggested titanium dioxide’s introduction into house paints in the mid-1950s could have been delayed on a global scale when considering issues of climate influences on formulation changes.

One of the specific examples Rogala gave to illustrate the usefulness of industrial literature referred to self-renewing paint films.  Weathering test articles cited a preference for acicular particles because their brittle nature allowed for microfissures in the paint, which would cause it to slough off in the rain and result in a crisp clean surface.  Another example was the mention that three years was the required life expectancy for engineered paint films according to industrial standards.  While such qualities were acceptable and even desirable in house paints, such paint films pose clear disadvantages for conservation.  In fact, Rogala pointed out a 1909 article that warned about the dangers of zinc oxide paint as a ground layer!

I thought this was an outstanding presentation.  Conservators must be resourceful and adaptable when dealing with unknown, unpredictable materials.  This is a particular necessity when it comes to the conservation and preservation of modern and contemporary artwork.  I appreciate Rogala’s study for delving into the industrial side of zinc oxide and providing an open look at a somewhat unconventional resource for conservation research.

AIC’s 39th Annual Meeting – Paintings Morning Session on June 3, “The Construction and Reconstruction of the 15th Century Spanish Retable” by Judy Dion

Judy Dion’s study of 15th-century Spanish retables adds to the limited information available on the impressive altarpieces that have undergone less technical and historical research than their Northern European and Italian Renaissance cousins.  Dion’s research is the result of five years of collaborative efforts during her Mellon Fellowships at the Balboa Art Conservation Center and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  The study involved extensive non-invasive examination of panel paintings from the collections at the San Diego Museum of Art and Philadelphia Museum of Art, as well as paintings in Spain, the United States, the United Kingdom, and mainland Europe.  Dion focused her investigation by concentrating on panel paintings made in the Spanish regions of València, Catalonia, and Aragón. Her findings address construction methods specific to Spanish retables, how construction features on individual or smaller sections of panels can provide clues to their placement within a complete retable, and the history and changing attitudes regarding alterations of disassembled panels.

To summarize the discussion of construction, retables consisted of a central panel surrounded by additional panels usually in the form of an inverted T-shape that measured anywhere from two to seven meters high.  The panels were in a fixed position and surrounded by framing components that served as pictorial and transitional elements between the scenes.  Review of the fabrication methods showed the panels, most often constructed from poplar or pine, were assembled using butt-joined boards with battens.  Transverse battens were used in combination with either vertical or diagonal battens but the latter were never used together.  All of the retables from the Valencia region examined in Dion’s study had diagonal battens and metal dowels were common additions.  Any flaw in the panels were filled with wooden shims and gesso before painting commenced.  Nonwoven plant fibers and fabric were also used in preparation of the panels.

In my opinion the most interesting part of the construction was during the assembly step that included the framing elements.  The frame components were attached to one of any two adjacent panels and then overlapped the face of the second panel. Raised framing elements were installed during the final assembly.  This construction caused a bare edge and gesso burr on the side of the panel with the attached framing element, while the paint layer extended to the edge of the side that was overalapped.  As a result, individual panels often appeared asymmetrical when retables were disassembled.

The disassembly of retables was often a response to changing aesthetics, demand for profit, and damages.  Individual or smaller panel sections could hold a higher value than an intact retable.  This led to frequent alterations of the panels to improve their appearance as stand-alone works.  Such alterations included but were not limited to repainting, the addition of false elements, and cutting down of the panel edges.  Fortunately, shifts in the methodology of collecting institutions encourage the recognition and appreciation of the historical context of fragmented works.  Panels that were altered for the aforementioned reasons are increasingly the subjects of reversal treatments.  In some cases the alterations are left visible, while in others missing or altered elements are restored to recover evidence of their original appearance.

This is a very abridged overview of Judy Dion’s thorough research and presentation due to my mere mortal status as a note taker.  I encourage anyone interested in this subject to seek out the conference postprints and/or approach Ms. Dion with any questions regarding her study.  She applied her findings to a hypothetical reconstruction of Jaume mateu’s The Birth of the Virgin, from the John G. Johnson Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  It is an excellent case study and definitely worth a review to gain a greater understanding of this research.

 

 

39th Annual Meeting – Paintings Morning Session, Friday June 3 – “An Experimental Study on the Merits of ‘Virtual Cleaning’ of Paintings” by John Delaney

John Delaney discussed the “yellow filter” model for virtual cleaning and compared it to experimental results from measurements of cleaned paintings before and after treatment.  To estimate the result of removing a discolored varnish, conservators sometimes correct the color using imaging software, “subtracting” out the varnish as if it were a yellow filter.  The experimental values were collected using FORS (fiber optic reflectance spectrometry) of specific points and hyperspectral imaging of the entire surface of the paintings.  The specific values for the  “yellow filter”  for a given painting is taken from the absorbance spectrum of the removed varnish and then applied to the rest of the painting.  After examining the spectra before cleaning, after cleaning, and the estimated virtual cleaning, it was clear that the yellow filter model for virtual cleaning was not enough to explain the spectral changes seen after cleaning.  After varnishing the cleaned area, there was no change in color, only an increased brightness indicated by a rise in the near-infrared signal, so that alone did not explain the additional component missing from the yellow filter model.

I was thinking that even if it wasn’t spectrally perfect, could the yellow filter model at least be a good tool for an estimation of results?  The example of the 15th century Tuscan panel convinced me otherwise—while the yellow filter worked well for the blue areas, the model was a poor estimate for the red and brown areas.  One component that is not taken into account with the yellow filter model is the effect of scattering by the varnish.  Aged varnishes don’t just yellow, they also increase the scattering of light.  Even with a scattering model included, the yellow filter model still did not accurately reflect the results of removing a yellowed varnish.

While virtual cleaning with simple “yellow filter” color correction in image processing software such as Photoshop is cheap and can be somewhat informative, it certainly is not a perfect model for varnish removal, even when the yellow filter’s spectrum is taken from the actual discolored varnish.  The study has not considered selective cleaning, grime removal, or other nuances of cleaning paintings, which would only further complicate the spectral correction.

39th Annual Meeting – Joint Paintings/Research and Technical Studies Session, June 3, “Speed, Precision, And A Lighter Load: Metigo MAP 3.0, A Great Advancement In Condition Mapping For Large-Scale Projects” by Emily MacDonald-Korth

Emily MacDonald presented on the usefulness of a new condition mapping program called Metigo MAP 3.0.  She began her presentation with a description of a collaborative project between  the University of Delaware and the Tsinghua University (Beijing) led by Dr. Susan Buck (Winterthur/University of Delaware Program in Art Conservation) and Dr. Liu Chang (Tsinghua University) to examine and document Buddhist murals and polychromy in the Fengguo Temple (Fengguosi), located in Yixian County, Liaoning Province, China.  The four interior walls of the temple are lined with the murals.  The murals were in very poor condition and their contained images were skewed by loss and other damage.

The Metigo Map software allowed the conservation team to map the murals’ condition issues in a short period of time.  The software incorporates mapping, digital imaging, and area measurement tools. The program streamlines the mapping process and is easy to use.  Emily compared the software to known and used techniques of documentation and illustrated the limitations of each.

Metigo Map was created by German company fokus GmbH Leipzig, dedicated to architectural surveying in addition to documentation of large scale conservation projects.

Maps are produced by uploading images into the software.  The images can then be drawn on and annotated.  The program makes the image true to scale and is able to rectify skewed images to proper orientation.  This allows images to be used that were taken from an angle if your subject is not accessible from the front.  By inputting the dimensions of the painting, the software can give exact locations of areas of interest and calculate the surface area of damage.  This feature can also be useful in making time estimates for proposals on big projects.  Image processing setting allows for photo editing to aid mapping.   Mapped images can then be exported as tif. files and opened in other programs.

For the presentation, Emily chose three murals to be representative of the condition issues they noted overall.  The conservators worked as a team, using Metigo Map to document the condition of the murals.  After the murals are mapped, the maps can be compared easily for condition issues.  The software can also be used to map the locations of samples.  Annotations can be made to the maps for future referral.

For large scale projects or projects particularly difficult to photograph, users can use the tiling function of the software to piece together the rectified image.  This allows for seeing the project unobstructed.

Emily also illustrated how Metigo map can be used to document experiments.  She has also used the software while working on a graffitti removal research project at the Getty to document surface changes and areas of treated surfaces.

Emily summed up the talk with an excellent slide comparing the pros and cons of the software.  The pros included:  easy mapping, image processing, rectification, measurement functions, compatibility with other software, and easy interface.  Cons included:  requires initial training, no white balance (but this can be done on photoshop beforehand), and cost (more expensive than adobe creative but less expensive than autocad).

39th Annual Meeting – Paintings Morning Session, Friday June 3 – “A Soluble Problem: Morse’s ‘Gallery of the Louvre,’ Glazing, and Toning” by Lance Mayer

In his talk, Lance Mayer introduced “Gallery of the Louvre” by Samuel F.B. Morse and detailed the treatment and history of the painting.  The main condition problem with “Gallery of the Louvre” was the overall yellowed appearance caused by a discolored varnish and the extensive yellowing and darkening of the artist’s original glazes.  Almost preemptively, Lance discussed (and dismissed) the possibility of simply “thinning” the varnish, the choice of many paintings conservators in this situation—if the varnish cannot be safely removed in total, partial reduction of the coating may be possible without significantly effecting the layers below.  Lance showed examples of several treatments where he had been able to reduce or remove varnish coatings above sensitive paint layers that included wax and bitumen, but this approach was not feasible in this case.  Analysis of “Gallery of the Louvre” revealed mastic and some oil in the glaze layers, but it is not clear if this was due to the use of mastic varnish in the paint or the use of a megilp medium. There was no cleaning system that could distinguish between the overall varnish and the extensive glazing, and there were plenty of examples of previous cleaning tests which either removed glazes entirely or solubilized both the varnish and glaze layers and mixed the two together.  Several of the paintings depicted in the composition had been selectively cleaned previously, leaving the overall tonality of Morse’s painting out of balance with starkly overcleaned pictures hanging in the yellowed room.  In addition, there were areas of discolored retouching and several areas of reworked paint over large, flake losses.  Morse rolled the painting for transport from France and perhaps the painting stuck to itself—the retouching in these areas is thought to be by Morse himself because they are not well-defined and have a distinctly different appearance when compared to other restorations present.

This treatment and the problems presented fall into a grey area for conservators, and the goals for treatment were realigned accordingly—the goal after the thorough examination was not to clean the painting and remove materials, but rather to “undo” previous cleanings and restorations by adding materials to allow it to be read as a harmonious and coherent whole.

An overall grime layer was removed, and the painting was varnished overall with MS2A.  “Bright,” overcleaned areas were toned back, as were abrasions and selected craquelure, particularly in dark areas.  The flake losses thought to be repainted by Morse were not filled, and previous discolored retouchings were toned to blend with the surrounding areas.  The painting, while still yellow overall, is more harmonious after treatment and the compositional space is much easier to read, particularly the hallway that recedes into the background.

Lance concluded with some discussion of Morse’s techniques, citing his contemporaries who said Morse was too fond of process and often glazed paintings until they looked soiled.  Thomas Cole criticized Washingtion Allston, Morse’s teacher, saying “Those pictures which anticipate the beauties of time are pregnant with the seeds of decay,” which was true for Morse’s “Gallery of the Louvre” as well.