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Restoration of Western European pastels dating from the 16th-20th centuries The opening of the exhibition Pastels by Western European Artists of the 16th- 20th Centuries in the Hermitage Collection in 2003 was preceded by a great deal of work by art restorers in the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Graphic Works (V.A. Kozyreva, director, and restorers O.M. Mashneva, Ye.V. Rudakas, T.A. Sabyanina, Ye.I. Shashkova and Ye.F. Tatarnikova). The pastels were made on various foundation materials including paper, parchment, canvas and paper mounted on canvas. Each required an individual approach and unique method or restoration. One example of this work is the conservation of a pastel by the French artist H. Robillard, Portrait of a Young Man (1859, restorer T.A. Sabyanina). The pastel came into the laboratory without a frame and glass, on an oval stretcher. The portrait was done on a sheet of cream-coloured, thick pulpy paper glued to canvas. The paper foundation had seriously yellowed, was fragile and had complex rips. The canvas was quite deformed. Along the edges of the picture there were numerous scratches, creases, and the paint layer was worn out. The surface of the picture was very dusty and the pigment layer smudged. After general investigation a test to determine the འfactor of the paper base was carried out and the needed conservation processes were applied: the backing was removed, the stretcher was cleaned, the paper and canvas were glued to the wood ends of the stretcher. After the front of the pastel was freed of dust, a velvety surface was revealed together with colour and depth of shades. There was some success reducing the strips of smeared color layer. This particular pastel could not take a fixative material applied to the front since that might lead to shedding of the pigment layer. At the same time the peculiarities of the construction did not permit the restorers to strengthen the torn areas in the traditional manner using glue and a paper base on the reverse side. The paper base with its high degree of acidity presented certain difficulties when trying to even out the deformations and strengthen the torn areas. Any direct contact threatened destruction of the paper. The mounting glue had yellowed over time and become fragile. The state of preservation of the canvas, paper base and mounting glue, as well as the very technique of the creation restricted all application of moisture: the yellow might come out through fissures on the surface of the pastel pigment. Initially the restorer applied a method of strengthening intended to restore the old mounting glue, to soften it with the help of Gore-tex. The method was suitable for strengthening areas of rips without significant visible deformation. This particular pastel had rigidly fixed deformations of the canvas. Unless there was additional strengthening from the back side, it had a tendency to return to its initial condition. Then the restorer applied another method in which the softening agent was a special glue. Methyl cellulose was applied to the damaged part on the reverse side and kept there for a certain period of time until the mounting glue, canvas and paper were softened. After the canvas straightened out, the methyl cellulose passed into the materials and its traces were removed from the surface of the canvas. A wheat-based starch glue was then applied to the cleaned surface and dense Japanese paper was glued on; this then fixed the evened-out area of deformation. Then came drying and pressing. The pastel was placed under glass which was supported by high stops made of acid-free cardboard and it was mounted in a frame. The reverse side was closed with a new backing made of museum cardboard. |
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