The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-27

canvas "a vas mounted and glued on 10 the bacl
tiss,Ia PaII'ihs. when this is dry the
mo,yed Pfa a Is moistened and gently re-
men cleansed, after which the process is
DOnipIele and the old cracked painting h
low Is, to its original beauty and
aruiInlshed with an entirely new canvas
rms process, when carried ont unon n
valuable old master, is one which in.
" y,aS, an enormous amout of trouble, and
20 III wi nj uohe unless absolutely neces-
9aiif. me FISK is too great, and few men
VIII venture to undertake it, Some of the
NafnlsheS used by the old painters are ev-
tIenely hard, and it is almost impossible
10 remove them without taking out coll
OrS and all W.
Whenever a restorer gets picture to
denoNate by removing the old Varnsh he
iIrsl tries an insignificant corner to see
now the colors stand the process Pic
lures painted by the old masters are
generally done with good colors which viii
IIoL easily be injured, but the pictures OF
hundred years ago and about the time
OF or Joshua Reynolds works have not
ldsteu very well, and are rather ticklish
10 handle. They used a good deal of Oh
tumen IN mixing their colOrs, thereby get
ing a good effect at the time but greatly
spolIng the lasting qualities of their
PdIhtlnSs Very few of the works OF Sir
ton.
A still more difficult process is the trans
derring OF pictures from wood to canvas.
l. 4 . 10 ms the wooden panel or whatever
Iests upon the merest Shell of wood. 4
special tool is then used until the paint
1tbulnnes Of the. picture can be seen
through the wood. Before doing this It's
sue paper is pasted on the front of the
painting, as in the process previously de-
scrlDed. Pumice and wet sponge remove
the last Vestige of wood, and the new can
vas is then mounted. The tissue paper IS
Wetted and peeled off, after which the
operation is complete. Unless the wood is
Dadly warped or shows signs of decay the
n Tac "a rod Ir.N he, nal
Strengthened by mechanical means. The
wood IS nrst planed to the thickness OF
quarter of an inch and then Stats are
glued on the back running the same way
as the grain. These are crossed by later
al pieces fitting into them, but moving
freely so as to allow for shrinkage This
Is known as grading, and is also. employ.
ed when panel is broken. The pieces are
led.
There is a fine example of transferring
from wood to canvas in the Metropolitan
museum of art. 1t is the Return Of the
Holy Family from Egypt" by Rubens, and
hangs IN the eastern gallery. The work o.
transferring took years to perform, ana
the plans were all carefully worked out
beforehand. The painting is feet inches
by teet "a inches, so that the labor ana
skill required may be imagined. 50 ION!
as painting exists, however, its transfer
from almost anything is only matter OF
care and skill. AT the head of the south
east stairway in the Metropolitan museum
walls of the Chapel of the Michelozzi VIA
IN Florence. 1t was painted on the plaster
over TOUR hundred years ago by ANTOINE
Pollainolo, and represents st. Christophef
carrying the infant Christ upon his shoul.
der; The picture was first pasted owe!
with canvas and then the plaster was cut
away from behind. 1t was presented TO
the museum by Cornelius Vanderbilt IN
1871 A good example of mending a PIC
ture apparently hopelessly mutilated
found in the Return of Spring" by Bol-
guereau, the great French painter. W aHe
on exhibition at Omaha a crank, taxing
ofense at the nudity of the figure in Ihs
picture, flung a chair through it. ne
painting, Notwithstanding its almost hope
less condition. was restored by Bougue-
reau IN such way as to defy detection
A new canvas was mounted on the back
and the picture is as good as before tHs
mutilation. There are many other WAYS
OF treating pictures to be restored Whlch
are determined by the circumstances gov
erning each particular instance. In one
case where a panel had decayed the pant
was not removed from the panel but tns
wood was planed down so thin that II
vas
The trade of the expert picture restorer,
though mechanical one. requires so muJ iI
artistic ability that it may truly be saiu
to be a branch of art