Untitled seascape, by Lewis Henry Meakin
This painting, owned by a private client, was a surprise to Paintings Conservation professor Fiona Beckett upon arrival to the department. What had been described to her as an oil painting on canvas turned out to be this painting: oil on canvas, attached to a compressed paper board support. It was a challenging and rewarding treatment as my first and only painting conservation treatment.
Before treatment images
Normal illumination: Notice the overall dullness of the painting, as well as the yellow tint to the white clouds. There are many small losses to the paint layer and ground throughout the composition.
Raking light: The cracked surface and cupping of many of the unstable paint flakes is very apparent in raking light. This painting was leaping off of its support.
UVA induced visible fluorescence: Previous overpaint is noticeable in the UVA images, as well as vibrant orange-fluorescing streaks of what I believe to be madder lake.
Reflected short wave infrared imaging
The subject was illuminated with incandescent lamps. An imaging camera (InSb imaging sensor), sensitive to invisible shortwave infrared radiation was used to record how the radiation penetrated the subject, or was absorbed or reflected by the materials in the subject. Different wavelength filtration bands revealed different information, but they all pointed towards what can be seen in the image below: a loose underdrawing, likely executed in a carbon-based drawing medium. The horizon line is the most visible example of this revealed underdrawing.
Consolidation
To begin the lengthy consolidation process that this painting demanded, BEVA 371 in xylene and naptha was applied to lifting flakes of paint by brush.
Once a healthy amount of BEVA had been placed, the entire painting was set on the hot vacuum table under silicone release mylar to warm the BEVA to its flow point. Once the painting was warm enough for the BEVA to flow, the paint flakes were manipulated both by a warm tacking iron, and by gentle finger pressure to lay flat in plane.
Varnish #1
After consolidation, and before filling and inpainting, an isolating varnish was applied to the painting to ensure that all loss compensation and aesthetic integration work I did would be fully reversible.
A during-treatment image of the painting after consolidation and the isolating varnish, before aesthetic compensation.
Note the whiter appearance of the clouds, and the losses revealed by removal of old overpaint in the sky.
After treatment images
Before treatment images are on the left, and after are on the right. Fills were done with Beckers spackle and inpainted with dry pigments in Laropal A81. A final varnish of Laropal A81 was applied following inpainting.
The backing board package was constructed of layers of blue board secured together with double-sided tape. It was secured in place using two brass plates at the top and bottom of the frame, custom cut from brass sheet with a jeweler’s saw. The screw holes were measured out, drilled, and countersunk to accommodate the extremely small screws needed to safely mount the hardware to the thin frame