Saving a masterpiece!!!

Restoration, or, in other words, Restoration. Hello, friends. I received this complex and interesting work for restoration, presumably by a European artist from the mid-19th century. All the restoration processes for this work will be described here. Let's watch it together. Before beginning the restoration of the painting, the restorer must take detailed photographs of the work, write a description, and examine it under an ultraviolet lamp and a microscope at various magnifications. It is also important to understand the cause and nature of the damage to more clearly determine how to proceed with the painting. This work was stored without a stretcher for a long time. Some areas of the canvas are missing, and I will need to restore them. Conservation, or strengthening, is the first and most important stage of restoration for the future life of the work. I demonstrate the application of natural animal glue with a brush and smoothing it with a polystyrene spatula. I stabilize these areas of the artist's primer and paint layer so that in the future it will be possible to work on the painting, both from the front and back. This will be demonstrated later in the video. In areas where the canvas is missing, inserts will be made from canvas of similar weave and density, demonstrating how major losses in the base are compensated for. After all tears and losses have been repaired, the reverse side of the painting is ironed with a warm iron to ensure better adhesion. The next stage of restoration involves stretching the painting on a stretcher using paper strips over the craft paper to reinforce and glue the front and back of the painting. I demonstrate how the work is stretched. The paper is moistened before stretching and glued after the craft paper has dried. The paintings are gradually stretched. This will be demonstrated later. Once the painting is stretched on the stretcher, the next restoration process can begin. In addition to the general strengthening of the ground and paint layer, localized reinforcement of damaged areas was initially carried out. I apply a weak glue to the animals. Next, I will glue tissue paper. The same glue is applied to it as to the original painting. As it dries and is ironed, the paint layer and primer will strengthen, and any loose areas of the painting, if any, will return to their original position. I demonstrate this in the video. It's also crucial that the glue isn't too cold or too hot. This is crucial for the painting. If the glue is too cold, it won't adhere well. And if it's too hot, it will sag too much. This is very bad for the work. Now I'll show you how to apply a preventative seal. Next, squeeze out any bubbles with a warm and very hot iron. The painting is dried. After the painting has been strengthened and the surface contaminants are removed, I'll demonstrate the next restoration process. This is duplication of the painting. The original canvas has lost its elasticity, and there are multiple tears and losses of the base. All of this is recommended for duplication. Duplication is the process of strengthening the original canvas by gluing it to another, more durable canvas. Duplication helps extend the life of the painting, making it more durable and giving it a smooth, sturdy appearance. Duplication has a positive effect on the overall condition of the work, both during display and during its display. After the painting is glued, it is cut from the paper margins and placed on a duplication tail, with the corners of the future painting pre-marked on the duplication. This is done for convenience, ensuring that the threads of the original canvas align with those of the duplication tail. I demonstrate this in a video now. The work is gradually rubbed with a soft roller as the paintings are placed. After rubbing with the roller, I demonstrate the process of ironing with a cold cast iron iron to ensure a stronger bond between the two canvases. After the painting has dried, the pre-applied protective tape can be washed off the front side after about a day. Before the duplication process, I demonstrate the process of removing the protective adhesive. Warm water is applied with a brush and the adhesive is gradually washed off. Before duplication, I applied a restoration primer to the damaged areas. I omitted this step from the video to keep it short. I want to say a few words about the primer. The restoration primer is applied strictly to the damaged areas. Natural animal glue with a chalk filler is used for the primer. The primer level should not be higher or lower than the original paint layer. After the painting has been washed from the adhesive, it can be stretched on a stretcher. The work is cut from the duplicating stretcher and the painting is stretched on the display frames. The painting is secured at the four corners, stretching from the center outward. Gradually, one nail is nailed on each side. A stapler can be used to stretch the duplicating canvas, but the painting must be secured with nails only. The next step after stretching the painting is to demonstrate the process of removing the old yellowed varnish. One of my favorite restoration processes. While removing the old varnish, I revealed underpaintings on the sky, which were invisible under a UV lamp or in normal light. Because the old varnish is very thick, the painting had been varnished several times and the underpaintings were invisible. The layer of paint applied over the original painting by other artists is commonly referred to as an overpainting. You can see a dark section of the painting in the video. The overpainting was very difficult to soften and remove, as the thick layer of oil paint lay directly on the original paint layer, only mechanically. With a scalpel did I manage to remove this dense overpainting. Other solvents did not soften the overpainting. After the overpainting was removed, the original paint layer was revealed in this area, with a small loss. During the painting's life, the artists for Restorer simply painted over the small loss on the painting. You can see how the overpainting was gradually removed. This process is slow. Care and attention are essential, as during cleaning, the Restorer is working with the paint layer, the painting's most valuable asset. After the overpainting has been removed, I'll show you the cleaning process. The work is done in small sections, under constant monitoring, an ultraviolet lamp, and a microscope. Unfortunately, there's no single, magic solvent that can remove varnish for every painting. Dot. Varnishes are numerous. As the varnish ages, its ability to dissolve changes, so the same solvent will not work the same on fresh and aged varnish. Cleaning is always individualized. A specific solvent composition is selected for each painting. Before cleaning, removal tests are conducted. After the painting has been cleaned of the old varnish and the varnish overpaintings have been removed, a cool, vibrant paint layer is revealed. You can now see how beautiful and delicate the painting is. It makes you want to examine every section of the painting. Look how beautiful it has become. After removing the old varnish, you need to wait for the solvent to evaporate from the painting. Each solvent requires its own time, and the solvent gradually evaporates from the work. The next stage of restoration is toning the lost paint. This is done with watercolors. Watercolor toning is done to achieve a toning as close as possible in color and tone to the original paint layer. After the toning has dried, refinements are made with oil paints. The final stage of restoration is toning the lost paint and any abrasions to the paint layer. Toning minor paint losses that do not require recreation is called toning. Reconstruction is commonly used to restore significant losses in areas that carry the main semantic load. I will do both in my work. I'm showing you how to do this in a video later. Now I'm showing you how I do toning with watercolors. And you can see how the painting is gradually being restored and put back together, and this brings me great joy. A strict rule in restoration is that the restorer's toning must not extend over the original painting. It's more difficult to tone light areas of a painting than dark ones, because the toning is more noticeable in light areas than in shadows or other dark areas. That's my opinion. I'd also like to say a few words about toning techniques. There are several types of toning, using individual strokes or dots of different colors or techniques. The word po-antelli comes from the word po-antelli, meaning to be done with individual dots. I use the po-antelli technique, which is common in oil painting. After the watercolor toning on the painting is complete, you need to wait a while before varnishing the work. I'll demonstrate the process. The painting is covered with a diluted natural varnish to avoid problems with future restorers removing it. After all, the main rule is the reversibility of materials in restoration. After the painting has been varnished, you need to wait for it to dry completely. Then you can begin refining the toning with oil paints. You can see this in the video. After applying the oil toning, the painting needs to dry. Then you can varnish the entire painting. The restorer's skill in rectifying the losses, regardless of the method used, determines the quality of the toning. If the restorer succeeds, the viewer's new encounter with the restored painting has taken place. Friends, it's up to you to decide whether I succeeded or not. He. Write comments, subscribe, I'll be very pleased.