I’ve written nothing for a while. I have been devoting my time to preparing the show in Florence, June 2005. Here is a piece I wrote some time back regarding a very important subject.

August 2003
CLEANING AND RESTORING PAINTINGS AND FRAMES

On several occasions clients have asked me for information concerning cleaning and restoring paintings. These questions fall in two groups. One concerns the desirability of cleaning and restoration. The other concerns actual methods and techniques. Although books can and have been written on these subjects, I will attempt to summarize the principles and methods I believe in and employ in this short treatise.

The restoration of antique paintings is directed by a different set of criteria than, for instance, antique furniture. The value of an authentic early American chair is determined by the originality of its condition, or how much of its original finish and components are intact. Such a chair in its most valuable form might be (and often is) too fragile to be used for sitting. Its appearance might be more that of a relic than an attractive piece of furniture. To refinish and repair such a piece would seriously lessen its value.

For some paintings and frames, whose age and origin make them most valuable as relics, the rules of conservation are basically the same as for other relics such as the chair described, preserve, do not alter or restore. Most paintings and frames however, are thought of differently for two basic reasons. To begin with, paintings and frames are intrinsically meant to be attractive. A painting’s reason “to be” is to express the artist’s intent. When, because of damage or discoloration by age, the artist’s vision is no longer discernable, the piece in the purest sense ceases to function. The intent of a chair, on the other hand, even if it is structurally unable to function, is still apparent. Secondly, the fragile nature of both paintings and frames makes them highly susceptible to continuing damage and rapid degeneration unless restorative efforts at crucial moments are made to preserve archival integrity. Atmospheric acids, for instance, begin eating on the paint itself once the varnish on a painting has degraded, say after a hundred years or so. Pieces falling off a cast plaster 19th century frame do not add value to an authentic look and will only continue to shed until the frame is gone if the instability is not addressed and the missing pieces replaced. A crumbling frame cannot continue to perform its critical role of protecting and presenting the artwork within it if such restoration is neglected.

Certainly the value of any painting or frame can be compromised if it is unnecessarily or carelessly restored. This can be almost completely avoided if the first rule of conversation is religiously obeyed: “ Do nothing that is not necessary”. This is a big rule! It precludes superfluous cleaning, for instance, any overpainting of undamaged areas and relining paintings (remounting them on a new piece of canvas) except in the most radical of circumstances. Many conservationists, as a matter of course, reline many of the paintings brought to them, often at a high price. This can be a tremendous disservice to their clients and the paintings in question. Most relinings are unnecessary and only hide an important characteristic of paintings on canvas: their true age. True age is best judged by the back of a painting and not the front. Oxidation levels, canvas types, etc. are the best true indicators of age. The amount of work previously done on the piece is often apparent when looking at its back. In other words, the true antique character of the piece is greatly covered up by a new backing.

I have often been asked how to clean a painting by people wishing to clean their own pieces. Let me make this statement before proceeding further. I have been a professional painter for thirty years. I have also spent many years developing the skills, knowledge and confidence necessary to start applying cleaning solutions to other people’s art, all of which have the power to destroy a painting as well as clean it. This is aside from the research done to match the pigments used by past artists, as well as the hours of practice necessary to match their techniques, which allows me to make “invisible” repairs to damaged paint. One should never attempt any cleaning or restoration of an old painting without this knowledge and confidence.

The cleaning process itself often involves several steps using different chemicals available from conservation supply houses. These chemicals must be tested and observed for effect on each particular piece to determine appropriateness. To describe the process in detail is impossible, as it varies with the condition and age of each piece. To set down a specific numbered set of steps that would result in a cleaned painting in one case may result in a destroyed painting in another. Before a competent restorer begins to work on a piece, crucial judgments and assessments of a painting’s nature, original pigments and mediums employed, condition of canvas, nature of finish, etc., must be made.

This is, of course, not what the potential “do it yourself” painting cleaner may want to hear, but exactly what such a person should know before beginning these endeavors. I’m afraid the day of the do-it-yourself art cleaner, unlike the day of the back-yard mechanic, does not nor has ever existed.

Steve B. Lance