2nd Edition
Conservation of Easel Paintings
Conservation of Easel Paintings, Second Edition provides a much-anticipated update to the previous edition, which has come to be known internationally as an invaluable and comprehensive text on the history, philosophy and methods of the treatment of easel paintings.
Including 49 chapters written by more than 90 respected authors from around the world, this volume offers the necessary background knowledge in technical art history, artists’ materials and scientific methods of examination and documentation. Later sections of the book provide information about the varying approaches and methods for treatment and issues of preventive conservation, as well as valuable reflections on storage, shipping, and exhibition. Including exciting developments that have taken place since the last edition was published, the book also covers new techniques of examination, especially MacroXRF scanning and Reflectance Transmission Imagery. Drawing on research presented at recent professional conferences, information about innovative methods for cleaning modern and contemporary paintings and insights into modern oil paints is also included.
Incorporating the latest regulations and understanding of health and safety practices and integrating theory with practice throughout, Conservation of Easel Paintings, Second Edition will continue to be an indispensable reference for practicing conservators. It will also be an essential resource for students taking conservation courses around the world.
PART I
Technical art history, examination, documentation, and scientific analysis
1 Art technological source research: documentary sources on European painting to the twentieth century, with Appendices I–VII
Jilleen Nadolny, Mark Clarke, Erma Hermens, Ann Massing, and Leslie Carlyle
2 Exploring the grammar of oil paint through the use of historically accurate reconstructions
Leslie Carlyle
3 Collecting and archiving information from living artists for the conservation of contemporary art
Ysbrand Hummelen and Tatja Scholte, with an appendix of additional archival sources
A history of Western easel painting materials from the early Renaissance to 2020
4 History and use of panels or other rigid supports for easel paintings
Edited by Jørgen Wadum and Noëlle Streeton
5 History of fabric supports
Christina Young, with a section on canvas stencils by Alexander W. Katlan
6 Stretchers, tensioning, and attachments
Barbara A. Buckley
7 Grounds, 1400– 1900
Maartje Stols- Witlox
Including: Grounds in the twentieth century and beyond
Bronwyn Ormsby and Mark Gottsegen
8 Pigments in Western easel painting
Nicholas Eastaugh, Jilleen Nadolny, and Sarah Lowengard
Including: Binding media
Erma Hermens and Joyce Townsend
9 Ageing and deterioration of traditional oil and tempera paints
Annelies van Loon, Petria Noble, and Aviva Burnstock
10 Modern paints
10.1: Modern synthetic polymer paints
Tom Learner
10.2: Modern oil paints
Klaas Jan van den Berg, Judith Lee, and Bronwyn Ormsby
11 A brief survey of historical varnishes
Alan Phenix and Joyce Townsend
12 Varnishing of acrylic paintings by artists
Mark Golden
Techniques of examination and documentation used by the conservator and conservation scientist
13 Written documentation for paintings conservation
Clare Finn
14 Image documentation for paintings conservation
David Saunders and Loa Ludvigsen
15 Notes on the history of conservation documentation: examples from the UK and USA
Morwenna Blewett
16 The classification of craquelure patterns
Spike Bucklow
17 The technical examination and documentation of easel paintings
Rhona MacBeth and Caitlin Breare
18 Optical microscopy
Nicholas Eastaugh and Valentine Walsh
19 Identification of textile fibres found in common painting supports
Debora D. Mayer
20 Cross- section microscopy analysis and fluorescent staining
Richard C. Wolbers, Susan L. Buck, and Peggy Olley
21 A history of early scientific examination and analysis of painting materials ca. 1780 to the mid- twentieth century
Jilleen Nadolny
22 Research into and analysis of the materials of easel paintings
Joyce Townsend, Katrien Keune, and Jaap Boon
PART II
Methods and approaches for the treatment and care of easel paintings
Structural conservation of easel paintings
23 Consolidation of flaking paint and ground
Michael von der Goltz, Ina Birkenbeul, Isabel Horovitz, Morwenna Blewett, and Irina Dolgikh
24 Tear mending and other structural treatments of canvas paintings, before or instead of lining
Winfried Heiber, Carolyn Tomkiewicz, Mikkel Scharff, and Rustin Levenson
25 Lining easel paintings
Stephen Hackney, Joan Reifsnyder, Mireille te Marvelde, and Mikkel Scharff
26 The structural conservation of paintings on wooden panel supports
Paul Ackroyd
The cleaning of easel paintings
27 Picture cleaning: positivism and metaphysics
David Bomford
28 Research on the Pettenkofer method and the historical understanding of paint film swelling and interaction
Sibylle Schmitt
29 Considerations on removing or retaining overpainted additions and alterations
Michael von der Goltz and Joyce Hill Stoner
30 Aqueous methods for the cleaning of paintings
Richard Wolbers and Christopher Stavroudis, with revisions and additions by Matthew Cushman
31 Removal of varnish: organic solvents as cleaning agents
Alan Phenix and Richard Wolbers, updated by Joyce Townsend, Stefan Zumbühl, and Angelica Bartoletti with Judith Lee and Bronwyn Ormsby
32 Case study in the use of lasers to remove overpaint from Ad Reinhardt’s Black Painting, 1960– 66
Lena Stringari
33 Cleaning concerns for acrylic emulsion paints
Bronwyn Ormsby and Tom Learner
Compensation: filling, retouching/ inpainting, varnishing (or not)
34 History of visual compensation for paintings
Jilleen Nadolny
35 Filling
Laura Fuster- López
36 The imitative retouching of easel paintings
Shawn Digney- Peer, Karen Thomas, Roy Perry, Joyce Townsend, and Stephen Gritt
37 Varnishing as part of the conservation treatment of easel paintings
Michael von der Goltz, Robert G. Proctor, Jr, Jill Whitten, Lance Mayer, and Gay Myers, with Ann Hoenigswald and Michael Swicklik
PART III
Preventive conservation, health and safety, outreach, and professional organisations
38 Travelling exhibitions and transporting paintings
Barbara A. Ramsay
39 Storage of easel paintings
Tom Dixon
40 The lighting of easel paintings
Jim Druzik and Stefan Michalski
41 Understanding the deterioration of paintings by microorganisms and insects
Karin Petersen and Jens Klocke
42 The sustainable conservation management of exhibitions
Jeremy Hutchings
43 Emergency preparedness and recovery
Rustin Levenson
44 Framing, glazing, backing, and hanging of paintings on canvas
Tom Dixon
45 Framing and microclimate enclosures for panel paintings
Ian McClure
46 Health and safety concerns in the paintings conservation studio
Monona Rossol, Mary McGinn, and Joyce H. Townsend
47 International public outreach projects
Joyce Hill Stoner
48 Recommending materials to artists
Brian Baade and Kristin deGhetaldi
49 Conservation organisations and professional standards
Rebecca Rushfield
Biography
Joyce Hill Stoner is Rosenberg Professor in the Art Conservation Department at the University of Delaware/Winterthur Museum, where she has taught paintings conservation since 1976. She was awarded the American Institute for Conservation’s Lifetime Achievement award in 2003 and the CAA/Heritage Preservation Award for Distinction in Scholarship and Conservation in 2011.
Rebecca Rushfield is a New York City-based conservation consultant with an interest in the history and literature of the field. She is active in the work of the American Institute for Conservation and the ICOM Committee for Conservation, and received the Gettens Award for outstanding service to the AIC.
