Does ‘retouching’ mean painting over the original work?
No. Conservators working today are careful to only apply retouching paint to areas of the painting which are damaged or missing, which requires a high level of precision and dexterity – plus the use of very small brushes!
This is so viewers can see and appreciate as much as possible of the original artist’s work, without being distracted by the damage that exists in surrounding areas.
Restricting the application of retouching paint to just the areas of damage is time consuming (it would be much quicker to take a broad brush over a given area!), but it is important as it ensures that original, intact paint is not obscured.
Restorers of past years were not always in a position to take such a careful approach.
Conservation only became a fully recognised profession around the mid-20th century with the introduction of specialist training programmes, a professional ethical framework and an increasing number of new materials and techniques.
Before this time ‘restoration’ was often carried out by artists or craftspeople who were simply tasked with cleaning up a painting in whatever way they found to be most effective and efficient.
This often meant that that their retouchings would extend far beyond the areas of damage (this is what we call ‘overpaint’) using mediums that would discolour over time and become difficult to remove.
Much of the work professional paintings conservators carry out today involves reversing this old restoration work and re-doing the retouchings in a more minimal way, using chemically stable, reversible paint.
Why did the painting need conservation in the first place?
Despite its importance, it has not been possible to display A Royal Visit to the Fleet in recent years due to issues with its structural instability and appearance.
The aesthetics of the painting were disrupted by several layers of thick, unevenly discoloured varnish and poorly matched overpaint from previous restoration treatments.
Most urgently, the paint film was exhibiting lifting and flaking, and there was a notable loss of adhesion between the original and lining support canvases. Both of these issues, if left untreated, would have led to further deterioration in future years.
What exactly are the paints that you use?
The paint medium being used here is a synthetic, resin-based varnish called Laropal A81.
It is chemically stable, so it won’t easily discolour over time. It is also chemically very different from the original paint layer, meaning it can be separated without risk of damage to the original. A layer of varnish is also added, which acts as a barrier between the original paint film and any retouching paint.
The medium is mixed with pigment to make the paint, and solvent is added to obtain the desired consistency.
Some colours come in the form of a premanufactured paint mix. For others the conservators make it themselves by grinding the dry pigment into the resin solution with a small spatula. These hand-made and factory-made paints are essentially the same thing, but the combined approach gives conservators a wider variety of pigments to choose from.
What other tools do you use for paintings conservation?
- During retouching, the paint is applied with tiny, high-quality sable brushes. These are expensive, but they enable the paint to be applied in small quantities to very precise areas.
- The conservators also use optivisors (a headset with magnifying glasses on) to help them see the paint surface up close.
- Occasionally, they will also use a mahl stick (a stick with padding on the end) which allows them to rest their hand without obscuring the surrounding areas of paint. Black gloves are worn to prevent reflections on the painting’s surface.
- Finally, a palette is required to mix together the precise colour of paint required.
What has already happened during the conservation of A Royal Visit to the Fleet?
In order to fully understand what work needed to be done, the painting underwent a technical examination. Its condition was documented and photographs were taken.
Before any retouching work could begin, the painting’s surface was cleaned to remove the superficial dirt that had built up.
This was followed by an initial phase of consolidation to re-adhere the worst areas of lifted paint and make sure the paint layer was secure enough to withstand the work that would come later.
This involved inserting very small amounts of a warm, fish bladder glue called isinglass under the lifted edges of the paint, before gently heating the edges with a spatula to lay them back down.