State of preservation before restoration

The stretcher is not fit for further use: it is deformed from uneven tensioning of the canvas, has come badly unwedged and has bars that are insufficiently wide or thick to support a large-format painting. The picture has been lined with a second canvas. The bond between the two supports is unsatisfactory, with numerous extensive areas of separation around the edges. The canvas has a pronounced sag and numerous deformations of various sort: deformations in the corners in the form of folds, the inner edges of the stretcher have become imprinted, indentations following the network of craquelure in the primer, the oulines of old restored tears and losses in the support with uneven edges fixed during the lining process, indents and bulges, isolated area of rigid buckling of the original canvas fixed during the lining process. The old tears and losses in the support have been broadly covered with restoration primer and tinting. The adhesion between the primer and support is unsatisfactory. In some sections of the lower part of the painting there are small area with open cleavage standing out from the surface. Across the whole surface of the picture there are bulges in the primer following the network of craquelure and fractures with sharp edges. Losses of primer are indicated by minor flaking, chiefly following the lines of cleavages and bulges. Across the old tears and losses in the support, cleavages, bulges and losses of primer there are numerous areas of restoration retouching that have altered in colour and tone, stand out in relief and broadly cover the artist’s own paintwork. The painting is coated with restoration varnish that has yellowed, and is uneven in colour, lustre and thickness, applied by aerosol with numerous clots, patches, runs and sputters on the sites of restoration retouching.

Restoration measures

• Photographic recording of all restoration processes
• Reinforcement of the primer and paint layer; elimination of the deformations in the support
• Removal of the lining of the painting
• Removal of the lining adhesive from the back of the original canvas
• Preparation of a new lining canvas
• Preparation of a new stretcher suitable for display purposes
• Lining the painting with the new canvas
• Fitting the painting on the new stretcher
• Restoration of the transparency of the varnish coating
• Using a tailored method to remove the restoration varnish across the entire surface of the portrait
• Using a tailored method to remove overpainting across the entire surface of the portrait
• Correction of the old restoration infilling
• Covering the painting with restoration varnish
• Retouching the losses in the paint layer