Restoring Henriette Part 2 after escaping Nazi Germany , #paintingrestoration #artrestoration

Hi everybody, welcome back to the studio. It's been a while, I have had a quick short, not quick, I've had a short break away to Spain which was a very nice holiday. So now I'm back in the studio and we are going to be looking at Henriette again. The last time we saw Henriette she'd been cleaned and we'd repaired that dent in her. So today I'm going to be applying a barrier varnish to her and then start on the retouching process. Thanks everybody who's liked and subscribed the last videos. It's really important to like the videos so that it gets bumped up and we get more of an audience. And thank you to my new Patreon supporters. I've got a Patreon page set up where you get sneak peeks and early access. There's a link in the description down there. So if you want to have a look at my Patreon page and support the channel that would be great too. But yeah, let's get started. So at the end of last episode we cleaned Henriette and removed all that discoloured varnish. There's also some retouching that removed as well and this now needs to be replaced. So first things first we're going to put a barrier varnish down now and protect the original paint layer so that any retouchings that we do apply will be on top of this varnish and will be able to be removed should this be necessary in a hundred years time. So I'm just applying the varnish evenly now across the painting. I do my initial pass over first then I start working it into the painting to make sure it's not pooling or sitting in any one area. So just keep moving that around and getting a nice uniform finish across the painting. I always like this stage. The varnish really adds depth to the colours and you get to see the resonance shine through there. We can see now Henriette looking very vibrant again. So on her face you can see where the paint layer is cupped in areas and we've got these surface craquelure and fissures but I'm not too concerned about those. What I'm really going to start looking at is just the areas of paint loss that we've got there. So using reversible retouching pigments. These are in a resin binder and then I've got a different a number of different solvents that will loosen these and be able to apply them. As you can see just tiny little brush strokes just fill in those small areas just with the tip of the brush and yeah hundreds of little dots and dabs just to push back that damage and match the pigments with the surrounding area. These losses were so fine it wasn't worth filling them. Very very thin small areas maybe an abrasion or a little bit of a scratch or a chip but minuscule little points that need retouching in. Sometimes it takes a while to get the colour just right but occasionally you'll get a really nice mix and you will find that that pigment tone is suitable for a number of different areas and if it's just slightly out you can just put that base layer down and then revisit and just touch back over the top and almost mix in on the paint surface just to match the existing colours. This tone's a little bit too light so I'm just going to use a little bit of solvent and remove that a bit of solvent remove the over paint dab it off and then just go in again. Sometimes it happens you think you've got a colour right and then it sits and when you move away and the light enters the painting frame again you can see that it's a little bit too pale. So again the lightest of strokes just touching in just to push back those darker areas and make the whole painting sit as one. So yeah this is the area of damage that we'd flattened out earlier. That crack is kind of the main impact and that's the reason why it had been relined in the past and then next to it is that small dented area. Now it did flatten out and I was pleased with the the amount of well how we'd reduced that impact but on closer inspection maybe something to do with the way it's been relined in the past or just something to do with that paint layer makeup there is a small area in there that I wanted to just level out a little bit so I've got quite a lot of filler on there but I'm going to remove the excess so it's just really sitting in that small indented area it's probably just less than a millimetre or half a mill of filler in there. So yeah just removing the outer regions there just so there's not too much excess on and then once that's fully dried I will be going back over that and removing anything else. So on her jacket during the past clean many years ago quite a lot of the pigment has been removed so there's sections where we've got like the base layer coming through but I can still see these stripes it's like a pinstripe effect on that whether it's a dress or house jacket. So I've chatted with the client and we are going to retouch in on top of Henriette's dress or shirt or whatever we decide it is please leave a comment if you know what that garment is but it's just going to be small small amounts just to consolidate that garment and make it look solid again so matching the colour tones and then some areas it's kind of like a bold kind of maybe a shadow area but especially on the on the left hand side as we view it I'll be looking to reintroduce some of those pinstripes or that patterned area. So at the moment these are just very small light vertical strokes not using a full bold colour patch if you like just little little elements and usually just tracing an existing brush stroke or an existing line down just to fill that area. There is an Italian method of retouching where you just use vertical strokes of similar colours so you're not hiding the fact that it has been restored and retouched but when you get to view in distance the filled area just blends into the surrounding colours. So lots of different thoughts on retouching and processes but with this one it's just a matter of pushing back those areas of paint loss matching the existing strokes and almost the texture of what is left on that lightest of touches and just bridging the gap so I'm just kind of matching one end of the pigment to the next bridging that gap through and making that pattern a little bit more solid and covering those areas where it has been over cleaned in the past. So yeah bridging that gap between that top section there where my brush is and the bottom area where the pattern has gone and I'm also following the line of my eye up to that kind of bolder stripe that's coming down. So again just matching those patterns and using my artistic license shall we say just to kind of match that pattern and hope that you get it right. I'm thinking of the line of the fabric too. So this is a very sympathetic kind of retouch and as you go along and fill a certain area you start to get a bit of an idea or a better understanding of what that fabric is doing or where the pattern is going and then pull back just had a chance to pull away and look at the retouches I've done. I'm not too sure that line that I followed there is quite right. I'm looking at some of these more external lines close to the collar and that seems to make more sense so I'll probably end up removing that and just having another go at it because it doesn't seem to look quite right when I pulled away. I may be looking at a different line to join them up. So just a little bit of solvent just to remove the retouchings that I've done and then I'll look at replacing those with something that sits well or sits better than that does. I think there's a line that comes down there that makes a little bit more sense to me. You've got ground underneath with texture and then you've got the actual pigment pinstripes over the top so I've just got to work out which line I'm following and the same for this section at the top here where it's kind of got a bit of a fold in there. I don't think I've got that quite right so I'm going to remove that and have another go at that as well. That's how I think that should be touched in. I think it kind of folds over the crease and dips back down but I'll have a look at that and see where I think that should go. As you can see that's not quite right either so I'm just going to take that off and I think I've got an idea now where it just kind of lips over that that crease and I can kind of see some pigment in the shadowed area which I'm just going to try and join up to. That's looking better now. It's looking a little bit more subtle and less of a curve so I'm quite happy with that now. I think that looks a lot better. Just join that up with that top section there so I'm just going to look at this collar now. There's some shadowed areas that are a little bit broken so I'm just going to touch in there and cover that ground up and just reinforce that shadowed area underneath here. Again as you go along you just see other areas that need attention and it's just a matter of retouching those sections in and just push them back, push them away so they're not that apparent and spoil the viewing of the painting. The trick is not to do too much though because you can get carried away and if you're retouching one section then you think well that bit needs doing now to make that look the same so it's always about knowing when to stop and when you've done enough. So now that that fill is dry I'm just going to use my swab and remove any excess from the painting. I just want the fill to sit in the crack or the fissure there and the same with this impact just remove the excess filler from the outside and it's only shallow but I just want to make sure that I've just got the fill in the area that I want to retouch. So yeah I've mixed my pigments now and I'm just going to use the very tip of that paintbrush just make sure I'm only covering or colouring the filled areas now. I'm just going to follow that crack all the way down. It might take a couple of passes, a couple of thin coats, the first one kind of absorbs in and then once that's dried I'll be able to go over the top first touching kind of is a little bit light and gets absorbed by the filler and then once that's dried and in place you can go over the top with the second pass. Some restorers use water pigment or watercolours to do this first section and get a nice matte finish and then once that's dried then you can go over the top with the retouching pigments and the resins. But yeah each individual dot of filler just gently pushed back so it's no longer distracting the eye and it's just matching that outer area. And here on the background these are historical fills from when the canvas was relined in the past. That's the colour of the original filler that the last restorer used and when I did the clean and the varnish removal the retouching is removed from there. So I'm just going to retouch those back in and match the background colour. Again it's probably going to take a couple of coats to fully pop them back and make them less visible. And now I'm just coming back to Henriette's face. On the forehead you can see some areas of paint loss there. I think this is still some historical retouching in there that hasn't quite removed. It's kind of discoloured a little bit similar to the filler that's used on the background we've just seen. So again I'm just matching those tones and just gently retouching in those pigments to push the damage further back. You might not get it right first time so you can always just remove it and have another go and get a better colour mix and then just slowly build that up to match the existing paint around it. Again just some really tiny little elements that you can see on her nose and the highlights. So just very very carefully shall we say just touching those in making sure that nothing that I put on there is too overpowering or too obvious. So continually assessing and just making small adjustments to blend that in. Sometimes you can do a bit of a blend on the painting as you can see there that's quite pale but other times you might not be quite happy that that might need to come off a little bit. Yeah so yeah that's come off and back to the varnish barrier layer and then start again. But your brain's adjusted to that your brain has then worked out that that's far too light and then your your next mix will be a little bit more accurate. Right I'm just going to let that retouching dry now. As you can see there's a few elements we have to keep going back and working on those areas. I want to kind of keep it true to the original artist's intention. The paint that has removed I've just kind of gently kind of touched those pinstripes in and again on the face again it's just minimal retouching just to kind of balance the whole retouching process off. So once that's dried I will be then letting let that dry and I will add the final coat of varnish. I've also ordered a frame for it. The picture came unframed. Speaking with the client we've gone for a very simple Florentine style frame that would be of the period and it's got a nice antique gold finish. So the next time you'll see Henriette she'll be fitted up in her frame. And here she is fitted into her new frame. Fully cleaned, varnish removed, damaged, filled and retouched. And this is how she arrived. So a very very discoloured varnish and then you can see the difference once that varnish has been removed. Beautiful eyes. I just love the whole makeup of this portrait. She's just so quietly brilliant. The artist has really captured her and yeah she's a she's a superb little painting and looks much better for a very gentle restoration. Okay so that was Henriette. I hope you enjoyed that process. A beautiful little portrait. So delicately captured. Just the way he painted the face. Just a magical little piece. I don't think we'll ever find out why he didn't paint his wife or why she's wearing those earrings that don't seem to quite match with her outfit. But what a lovely little portrait. I really enjoyed working on her. And she's going to go back to the client now and I'm sure they'll be pleased with how she's turned out. Right as promised, episode before last, we're on with Regency Gent. Regency Gent has been overpainted and Regency Gent is going to have some overpaint removed. So next episode will be that one. Please don't forget to subscribe, like, leave me a comment. I do read through them and I do reply when I get a chance. Don't forget to have a look at my Patreon page. Link in the description. And I will see you next time. Thanks for being along guys and I hope you enjoyed the episode. Okay, cheers, bye.