Fine Art Conservation
This page includes illustrations of conservation work undertaken by Julia Korner.
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Edward Lear (1812-1888) Mount Sinai with a Caravan in the foreground
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Before
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After
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Frame
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| The painting was in an exhausted state when it arrived in the studio. The pigment was dry, brittle and
abraded with bad surface scuffs across the centre of the painting and evidence of damage in the sky. The painting had to
be re-lined so as to absorb the pigment back into
the canvas and the stretcher, with Lear's inscription 'Mount Sinai' on the reverse, was saved. The strength of Lear's palette,
formed at this stage of his career by Holman Hunt's influence (his travelling companion during this period), was revealed
in all its glory by the cleaning process.
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Gone are the murky, subdued colours masked by centuries of filthy varnish and over-paint. Instead, the Pre-Raphaelite
palette, accentuated by its white ground under the pigment, shines forth in all its freshness. Enormous care had to be
taken to preserve the delicate craquelure in the painting and Lear's sepia pen work in the foreground. With all the
excessive over-paint removed, the damage in the sky was attended to with a minimum of additional pigment ensuring
that this worked well both under electric light and daylight.
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Great care was taken over framing this bold, formidable painting. It was essential to complement the bright
pigments with a delicate early frame. After an extensive search a superb 17th century carved and gilded Italian frame
was found. Whilst it was a little large, particularly in height, a slip was designed in the work shop to accommodate it,
the same tone of gold was used and the whole work fitted up at last, in all its glory.
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18th Century Portrait by Nathaniel Hone (1718-1784)
The painting was bought by a client of Julia Korner's, on her recommendation, at auction. It was an 'honest' work
that had survived in its impressive period frame, intact.
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18th Century Frame before
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Painting before
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Frame during
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The frame had suffered a great deal over the years. Almost all of the original gilding had gone, as had much of the
detailing, and the slip had buckled in all four spandrels, causing the oval slip to penetrate the painting behind and thus disturb the
surface of the painting. Only one corner survived intact. This image shows the flower detailing left in one corner of
the slip and the other original mouldings in this area of the frame were good enough for copies to be made, carved
in wood.
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The painting had been cleaned in the past and lined on to a sympathetic paste lining which had since dried out
causing the pigment to become very unstable. This, coupled with the brittle pigment and surface damage caused
by the slip, meant that the painting had to be lined again with the utmost urgency, using a fine canvas of a similar
weight to that already used by the artist.
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Meanwhile, the frame was stripped bare of all its beautiful mouldings, in order that they might be lovingly cleaned.
A new back was put on the frame where a whole section was missing, and the whole structure of the frame was
made solid once more, re-pinning and glueing the corners and stabilising the plain surfaces left so as not to loose
any more of the original composition.
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18th Century Frame during
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Painting during
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Frame and Painting after
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With this done, it was possible to start reconstructing the frame once more. A fresh slip was made with appropriate
detailing, as already discussed. Then the hand carved beading was glued and pinned in place. Composition
was used to fill all the areas of loss and gradually the frame began to spring to life. The next stage was to cover the
frame with several coats of gesso. It was then sanded down to a fine sheen. Three coats of yellow bole and
one delicate layer of red bole on the highlights of the mouldings were then added and wire woolled, again to a silky
finish. Then the frame was oil gilded, distressed and lacquered. An Antique Pine wax was used to give it a finishing
touch.
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The painting was given a delicate clean which revealed earlier retouching around the profile of the face and in the
background, particularly in all the corners. The retouching was removed, as it had discoloured, and replaced, keeping
it to a minimum. Finally, several layers of Ketone resin varnish were applied and the painting was fitted
up in its frame once more, spring loaded in place with corks.
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It was enormously satisfying to see the work shine in all its understated glory once more, following a restoration of several months.
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Work in Progress
A beautiful carved and gilded English Portrait frame, circa 1830 - 40, in the process of being reconstructed, stabilised etc.
in preparation for being turned into a looking glass, the painting having been lost sadly long since.
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