Saving a 18th-Century Painting Before It's Too Late-Part 1

Today we are beginning the restoration of a rather unusual painting, at first glance it looks like a wonderful, almost magical scene with a magnificent hot air balloon floating above a crowd of people, but if we take a closer look we can see that this painting is in serious trouble. Large areas of the original paint have already been lost and some of the remaining painting and paint is becoming detached from the surface. So, before we can even think about restoring the missing details, there's something much more important we need to do. We need to save what's still there. For this first stage, I'm going to use a Japanese conservation tissue and a protein-based adhesive. The idea is to temporarily protect these very fragile areas while I work on stabilizing the original paint. One of the biggest challenges is the Some of these paint fragments are already lifting from the surface and of course the last thing we want is to lose even more of that original painting. This is one of those moments in restoration when patience is much more important than speed. I prepared the paper that I will use which is a Washi Kozo. It's a very strong paper although it's very fine and I prepared also the glue. I'm going to use fish glue diluted in distilled water and And, uh... to dissolve it I will apply a little bit of heat which will make then the glue that you see here. I also will apply this glue with several techniques, with a syringe or with a brush. I have two kinds of brushes that I probably will need, and I will need also a hot spatula that will give heat to the areas that I need to adhere, the paint that I need to adhere again. And also I will use a piece of Melinex that will allow me to apply the heat without having the trouble of sticking the glue to the spatula. Now, this may look like a rather simple process, but it actually requires a lot of care. I'm working on a surface that has already suffered considerable damage and some of these small fragments of paint are extremely fragile. The challenge is to bring them back into contact with the underlying surface without disturbing the surrounding original paint. I'm working gradually, treating one small area at a time, and although this stage won't dramatically change the appearance of the painting, it is absolutely essential for everything that comes next. Now I'm starting to work on one of the most fragile areas of the painting. As you can see, there are many small fragments of paint that have been started to lift from the surface and some areas have already become completely lost. I'm using Japanese tissue paper and a protein-based adhesive to help stabilize the remaining paint. The Japanese paper is very thin, but surprisingly strong, and it allows me to work on these delicate areas without directly disturbing the loose paint fragments. Once the adhesive has been applied I use a heated spatula with a protective film between the tool and the painting to carefully help the lifted paint settle back into place. Of course, this is something that requires a lot of attention. The temperature, the procedure and the amount of moisture all need to be carefully controlled. And one thing I always try to remember is that every small fragment of original paint is important. Once it's gone, we can never truly replace it. We can only try to reconstruct its appearance, so at this stage my priority is not to make the painting look better, but simply to prevent it from becoming worse. Here I'm working on some of the smaller fragments of paint that are lifting from the surface. I'm carefully introducing the adhesive beneath these fragile areas using a fine needle and a small brush. It's a slow process but I want to preserve as much of the original paint as possible. As I move across the painting you can see just how extensive the damage really is. Some areas have already lost their original paint while others are still extremely fragile. Before I can even think about filling these losses or restoring the missing colors, I need to make sure the remaining paint is properly secured. This is one of those stages of the restoration where patience is so much more important There may not be a dramatic visual transformation just yet, but this work is essential. And sometimes the most important part of restoring a painting is simply making sure that what has survived will remain there for many more years. One of the things I really like about this painting is the subject itself. There's something almost playful about it. A magnificent balloon, a crowd of people, and this wonderful atmosphere of excitement and celebration. And interestingly enough, hot air balloons are still very popular here in Belgium. Sometimes, when you look towards the horizon, you can see one or two balloons slowly floating across the sky. Not far from where I live, in Saint Nicholas, there's even an annual balloon festival that attracts many visitors. So, in a way, looking at this painting reminds me that our Fascination with these extraordinary flying machines has never really disappeared. By the way, if you enjoy following my restoration projects and would like to know a little more about what happens behind the scenes here in my studio, I've recently started I created a newsletter called Studio Notes You can find the link in the description below, I'd love to have you there. With the most fragile areas now secured, I can finally begin to think about the next stage of this restoration. But, as you can see, there's still a long way to go. And that's where we are going to leave this painting for today. I know that visually there is still a long way to go, we have all these missing areas and eventually we'll have to think about how to reintegrate them. But before any of that can happen, we need to make sure the original paint is stable. I really like this little painting and I'm very curious and I'm looking forward to see how it develops through the next stages of the restoration. So let's see how it goes. Thank you for watching and I hope I'll see you on the next episode. Until then, take care, have a great time and a great week, and I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.