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Oil Paintings
William Trost Richards, NA
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William Trost Richards, 1833 - 1905, was one of the foremost proponents of the American Pre-Raphaelite movement although he is also associated with the Hudson River School. He eventually rejected the romanticized and stylized approach in favor of meticulous factual renderings. Richards was elected as a full member of the National Academy of Design (the first art museum in America) in 1871. Few paintings of this dimension (48 x 72 inches) exist outside of fine art museums. This particular painting was damaged when it was transported on top of an automobile when it was secured by two thick ropes. Transporting art is often the reason why fine paintings are damaged.
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Before Treatment
Detail of early 19th century oil on canvas by an unknown artist.
The child at left was the grandmother of the client. Note the tear
by the left ear, surface dirt and discolored varnish.
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During Treatment
Removal of disfiguring layers after solubility testing of the
surface accretions, varnishes, and pigments.
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After Treatment
After tear repair, filling, inpainting, and final varnishing. Note
that the painting now clearly depicts the artist's intent and color
palette. The contrast is vastly improved, there is greater detail
in all areas including shadows, and there is improved color saturation.
This iconographic painting was left in a shed in Mexico for decades.
A substantial area of loss appears over the left shoulder in a crescent shape.
After filling with a canvas of similar physical characteristics, it was inpainted to
match the newly cleaned and stabilized painting.
Inpainting (retouching) in the hands of a capable conservator can
successfully integrate missing pictorial elements. We use re-
versible restoration colors over an isolating varnish layer.
This protects the painting from any possible and irreversible
cross linking of the retouches to the original artwork.
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During Treatment
This canvas contracted from water damage causing the paint film to crack and lift at the top. The canvas is stretched onto temporary stretcher bars and carefully humidified to lengthen the fibers of the canvas. This allowed us to align the paint fragments and consolidate them before filing voids and inpainting.
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After Treatment
The paint film is consolidated, cleaned, varnished, and inpainted and the canvas is stretched onto museum quality stretcher bars before display.
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Tear repair is one of the most common types of damage that oil paintings
sustain. Note that here this horizontal tear runs through areas of dense
visual information into the sky area of flat neutral color.
This 19th century European painting was conserved and then framed
in a period piece Florentine 22k gold frame for a complete museum
treatment and visual enhancement in an appropriate historical context.
