Restoration of the Deesis icon with selected saints.

Icon of the Deesis with selected saints. Approximate date – 19th century. Although the board is most likely from the 18th century. Material – Levkas-Empera wood. The icon was in such condition until its restoration. The icon was in such a poor condition, to be honest, I wasn't even sure Am I even capable of handling such a job? I was warned that the clearing will be very difficult. But looking at this icon, I thought, Not only will this stage of the work be difficult for me. First, I decided to pull out all the nails, which indicate that the icon had once been encased. The area where the nail was located was previously wiped with alcohol. and then pulled it out with pliers. Fragments of a cover were located under some nails. Here, for example, is a small fragment from the crown. These were the nails on the surface of the icon. It's clear that some are not so small after all. Now let's take a look at approximately what the salary was on this icon. That is, the main part of the salary was attached with three crowns. Now I'll proceed with the reinforcement. First, I remove the fine dust and dirt, of which there was an abundance on the icon. I will carry out the sizing with a 3% gelatin adhesive. Preheated in a water bath beforehand. I go over the area several times so that the soil is thoroughly saturated with glue. so that it is better absorbed and does not become gelatinous on the surface, I'm just warming up the incandescent lamp a bit. And thus, the reinforced section softened and became saturated with adhesive. Now it is possible to proceed with applying the preventive sealing. I moisten the surface of the icon and glue the cigarette paper leaf with adhesive. Applying the coating to the surface. And I smooth it out to make sure there are no bubbles or wrinkles. Then I heat the area with a warm iron through a Teflon film until completely dry. Alyfa was simply black, and nothing was visible underneath it. Only the figures of certain saints were barely visible in the center of the icon. namely, Saint Nicholas on the left and two figures of the righteous ones. In places where the frame was, over the icon's centuries-long history, a great deal of dirt had accumulated. I also softened it with glue, and using a scalpel, I carefully removed it without touching the surface of the painted layer. There was a lot of dust and other contaminants on the upper part of the icon, which hindered the absorption of the glue. Therefore, it was also necessary to carefully clean these areas at the same time, so as not to damage the already fragile olivkaz. Thus, the entire icon was being reinforced. I leave it in this condition for approximately one week, and after this period I will begin removing the preventive adhesive tape. For this, I cut a small piece of gauze and, dipping it in warm water, gradually remove all the stickers from the surface of the icon. Once the icon has been secured, the protective stickers can be removed, and you may proceed to the next stage. This is the preparation of the icon's surface for applying a new ground layer, that is, gesso. Namely, the blank. As can be seen, the icon's fields do not have lye. And therefore it was decided to leave them as they were. Just scrape down to bare wood and apply varnish. And then a problem arose. The issue is that the large amount of linseed oil and the presence of GОI (presumably "Gum Arabic" or a specific conservation term, but retained as-is due to technical context) patches almost across the entire surface of the icon did not allow for a clear understanding of the boundaries of the losses. Therefore, it became necessary to clean the icon first, and only then prepare it for gilding. Right now, on the video, you can see how this stage of the restoration was carried out. As a solvent, I used a mixture of ethyl cyanoacetate and cyclohexanone in a 1:1 ratio. I moisten the cotton with solvent and check after a minute. It can be seen that the cotton wool turns dark brown, which means the linseed oil is softening and dissolving. To neutralize the solvent's effect, I pass through a section with oxypurinol. The protective coating on this icon was very uneven, and therefore, during cleaning, lumps of unremoved size remained, which I gradually removed with a scalpel as they softened. And in this manner, the entire icon was gradually cleared. This stage of the restoration took me a very long time. To be honest, I didn't have the patience to record the entire process. Therefore, this is all the footage from this stage of the restoration. After that, I only took photographs, and now you are seeing a photo of the icon that is slightly more than half-cleaned. After clearing, I continued preparing the surface at the sites of loss for the application of levkas, and cleaned the icon's fields of goi paste and other impurities. The icon is now ready for the levkas to be applied. But before proceeding to this stage, I would like to briefly describe what was discovered after the clearing. The icon turned out to have numerous later additions. As can be seen, the upper part of the icon has a brown background, whereas the middle part has a silver background. At the bottom of the icon, the insert has even cut off the figures of the saints, and in places it is also shaded brown. Now let's examine where the image is authentic and which areas are later additions. I have outlined the approximate boundaries of the later insertions and shaded them. Everything that is light-colored is the original image. After all the areas where losses occurred and the icon's fields have been cleaned down to bare wood, the board itself must be restored. For this, I prepare a mixture of sawdust with PVA glue. I sprinkle a little sawdust onto the glass, add some glue, and a couple of drops of water. Now I mix everything together and fill all the defects in the wood with the resulting mixture. The icon is now ready for the next stage of restoration. This is a leek transplant. But before applying the new undercoat, it is necessary first to seal the areas where the levkas will be applied. For the first application, I warm up a 3% gelatin adhesive on a water bath and apply it with a brush onto the prepared board surface. After the first application of adhesive, I let the icon dry thoroughly, then apply the second coat, this time using a 5% adhesive solution. The icon has been glued down, and now the new gesso can be applied. A small amount of pre-prepared levkas I place on the palm of my hand; it becomes fluid, as if warmed, and I apply it to the surface with my brush. After the first layer has dried, I apply the second layer, and so on, until I reach the desired level with the levkas. The required layer of levkas has been applied and now needs to be leveled. I'll do it with a cork slightly moistened with water. Thus, the layer of levkas was leveled to the required height across the entire icon. The next stage of the work was the shading, which I didn't record, as the icon turned out to be extremely difficult to work on, and I simply didn't have the patience or strength to record it. But I will briefly explain and illustrate this stage of restoration using another icon as an example. I painted the tint with watercolor, and for the background of the icon, since it has a written inscription, the upper part is shaded in a brownish color, while the middle section of the background is silver. And it was decided to recreate the silver background across the entire icon. I will tell you how I did it using another icon as an example. Here is the icon of the Mother of God of Smolensk, with the background, as can be seen, made of silver. I will restore it with aluminum foil sheets. I cut a small piece of mica with a knife, moisten the surface with a solution of vodka and glue, pick up the cut piece of mica with a brush, and apply it to the glued area of the icon. Then I press it with a cotton pad and smooth it out. And finally, I toned down everything with bistre and watercolor. On some sections, I used cultured silver. In this way, the entire background of the icon was blurred. The final stage of restoration is applying a pre-war lacquer coating. The next video about restoration will be about this icon of the Smolensk Mother of God. Now let us return to our icon. This is the icon that resulted after all the work was done. Let us see which saints are depicted on this icon. At the top is the Savior, to His left the Virgin Mary, and to His right John the Forerunner. At the bottom, if you look at the photograph taken after clearing, only the figure of Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker is recognizable. The two outer figures have almost completely disappeared. And in the center, three saints in monastic robes. They are reverend figures whose names have not been preserved. It was decided to find similar saints among the samples and to label them with their names, based on what had been discovered. Saints Panteleimon, Nicholas, John, Anthony, Theodore, and Dimitry. Now let's look at what the icon was like before the restoration and what it became afterward. I must say that such icons are very difficult to work with, but also very interesting. Because you don't know what lies beneath this plain black varnish and other types of contamination. This video about the restoration of this icon is coming to an end. Thank you all for watching, and goodbye to everyone!