Art restoration
Restoring or conserving an oil painting
There are many reasons why an oil painting may need to be restored. It may be dirty, cracked or even torn.
In the first instance, our recommendation is that you contact the British Association of Paintings Conservators (BAPCR). They have an accredited list of restorers across the UK and can offer advice on finding a conservator in almost any part of the world.
If however, this is something you want to tackle yourself, then the following advice is offered for information only - anything you attempt is entirely at your own risk.
First Steps
If the painting in question is on paper - you can almost forget about restoring it as it's probably been painted in watercolour not oil. Even the most experienced restorer shudders at the site of paper.
Only canvas or wood offer suitable backgrounds for restoration.
The next thing to consider is - why does the painting need to be restored?
If the painting is valuable - take it to an auctioneer for a valuation before doing anything. If it turns out that the painting does have some commercial value - follow the advice of the auctioneer - who will probably recommend you take it to an accredited restorer!
In many cases however, the reason for wishing to restore a painting is because it has sentimental value - it may be a family heirloom or a family portrait - and its value is measured only by emotional attachment.
Even so, if it's really important to you - take it to a restorer.
Looking for Signs
Pre 1940, most oil paintings were covered in varnish both to protect the paint beneath - called the impasto, and to bring a sheen to the painting.
Over time, this varnish can yellow or crack. The way to remove it is by the use of a solvent that is applied delicately with a cotton swab until all the varnish is removed but none of the paint.
Solvents that do this can be purchased at most art supplies stores.
If you are going to attempt this, take advice from the store and apply the solvent gently to one small corner of the painting. If all appears well, continue - but be patient, this is not something you're going to achieve in one sitting.
If the paint beneath the varnish is also damaged, the correct way to restore it is to remove the upper layer of varnish first, and apply a new varnish before retouching with any new paint.
This is called 'reversible' restoration and is a must even among professionals. The rational being that in the event of the repainting being incorrect - the process can be reversed back to the new layer of varnish and started again.
If the painting is after 1940 - or is fairly modern, the liklihood is that there is no varnish on it at all.
In this case, unless the paint itself is cracked, what you are probably looking at is a build up of dirt, smoke or grime that has built up over the years.
There are two ways this can be tackled.
1./ Use a detergent such as washing up liquid. With a soft cloth, apply the diluted detergent onto the paint. Dab it - don't rub and don't remove any paint.
The cloth should be damp, not wet. No residue of water should be left on the canvas as this will do even more damage. Go over the painting once or twice but no more. Step away and wait for the canvas to be perfectly dry before having another attempt.
This technique can be used if the painting appears grimey or oily.
2./ If it's just a build up of dust, then an old wives trick is to use bread - about 2 or 3 loaves of it.
Remove lumps of bread from the center of a white loaf and knead it until it becomes doughy.
Then take the kneaded bread and gently rub it across the painting. It acts a little bit like an eraser and if built up dust is your enemy, you should see the bread gradually blacken and the painting brighten.
The trick in any restoration is to be patient. Don't rush - and if you're having doubts - take the painting to a restorer!
Avercamp, Hendrick - Baburen, Dirck van - Bacon, Francis - Baldung Grien, Hans - Barocci, Federico - Bazille, Frédéric - Bellini, Giovanni - Beyeren, Abraham van - Blake, William - Bosch, Hieronymus - Botticelli, Sandro - Boucher, François - Boudin, Eugène - Bouguereau, Adolphe-William - Bouts, Dirk - Bowie, David - Brown, Ford Madox - Brun, Charles - Burne-Jones, Sir Edward Coley - Cabanel, Alexandre - Caillebotte, Gustave - Campin, Robert - Canaletto -Cano, Alonso - Caravaggio, Michelangelo Merisi da - Caron, Antoine - Carracci - Cézanne, Paul - Chase, William Merritt - Clegg, Vanessa -Cole, Thomas - Constable, John -Copley, John Singleton - Cornell, Joseph - Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille - Correggio - Cosimo, Piero di - Courbet, Gustave - Couture, Thomas - Daumier, Honoré - David, Gerard - David, Jacques-Louis - Davis, Stuart - Degas, Edgar - Delacroix, Eugène - Desportes, Alexandre-François - Doré, Gustave - Dossi, Dosso - Dürer, Albrecht - Dyck, Sir Anthony van - Eakins, Thomas - Elsheimer, Adam - Eyck, Jan van - Fabriano, - Fantin-Latour, Henri - Feke, Robert - Fouquet, Jean - Fra Angelico,- Fragonard, Jean-Honoré - Freud, Lucian - Friedrich, Caspar David - Furr, Christian - Gainsborough, Thomas - Gauguin, Paul - Gelder, Aert de - Gentile da Fabriano- Ghirlandaio, Domenico - Giordano, Luca - Giotto di Bondone - Gogh, Vincent van - Goya, Francisco de - Greco, El - Greuze, Jean-Baptiste - Grünewald, Matthias - Guardi, Francesco - Guillaumin, Jean-Baptiste Armand - Hals, Frans - Hawker, Gareth - Heda, Willem Claesz - Hilliard, Nicholas - Hiroshige, Ando - Hirst, Damien - Hockney, David - Hokusai, Katsushika - Hooch, Pieter de - Hopper, Edward - Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique - Jongkind, Johan-Barthold - Joos van Wassenhove - Kandinsky, Wassily - Kerr, Stanley - Kiefer, Anselm - Kitaj, Ron B. - Klee, Paul - Klimt, Gustav - La Fosse, Charles de - Lancret, Nicolas - Le Brun, Charles - Legros, Alphonse - Leonardo da Vinci - Lorrain, Claude - Machie, Hamish - Malevich, Kasimir - Manet, Edouard - Mantegna, Andrea - Marc, Franz - Martini, Simone - Matisse, Henri - Maureau, Alphonse - Michelangelo - Millet, Jean-François - Modigliani, Amedeo - Mondrian, Piet - Monet, Claude - Moore, Henry - Moreau, Gustave - Munch, Edvard - Mundy, Bill - Partridge, Nehemiah - Patel, Pierre - Piero della Francesca - Piette, Ludovic - Pissarro, Camille - Picasso, Pablo - Pollock, Jackson - Raphael - Redon, Odilon - Rembrandt - Renoir, Pierre-Auguste - Rodin, Auguste - Rossetti, Dante Gabriel - Rousseau, Henri - Rubens, Peter Paul - Sargent, John Singer - Schiele, Egon - Seurat, Georges - Shaw, Joshua - Signac, Paul - Sisley, Alfred - Tanning, Dorothea - Tenniel, Sir John - Tiepolo, Giambattista - Tintoretto - Tissot, James - Titian - Toulouse-Lautrec, Henri de - Trevino, Jesse - Troy, Jean-François de - Turner, Joseph Mallord William - Uccello, Paolo - van Dyck, Sir Anthony van - van Eyck, Jan van - van Wassenhove - Velázquez, Diego - Vermeer, Jan - Veronese, Paolo - Wassenhove,Joos - Waterhouse, John William - Watteau, Jean-Antoine - West, Benjamin - Weyden, Rogier van der - Whistler, James Abbott McNeill - Winstanley, William - Wright, Joseph
