Restoration in Painting Techniques
Passage Véro-Dodat
During its construction, nothing was spared to make this gallery magnificent : compartmented marble paving, painted ceilings with mythological subjects framed in gold moulding. However, the gallery had not been touched for 175 years and was considerably tarnished. No over-painting or cleaning had ever been carried out, even though the passage had been through a fire in the mid nineteenth century. The ensemble was in a terrible state. The work in the Gallery Véro-Dodat is an example of a complete restoration project, combining classical techniques used for paintings on canvas with those used for mural paintings. The contingencies of pollution and climate had made the task all the more complex.
Passage Véro-Dodat – Paris Ier
Architecte B.F. : A. Coulon / Conservatrice : C. Piel
Maître d’oeuvre : R. Bernadac / Braun et Associés
One often ignores that paintings in large-sized edifices are painted on canvas and then framed and installed. The techniques for restoring painting on canvas are the same for both “easel” painting and paintings on large-sized frames inscribed in architectural ensembles.
Our Workshop for the Restoration of Paintings
A painting is an ensemble of strata, composed of the support, priming, binder, colours and varnish. First of all, it is fundamental to determine the painter’s technique, to understand the torments of his texture and to tame them. At times it is important to reveal eventual repainted parts and precedent restorations.
In this extremely demanding discipline, where judgments and hasty decisions are forbidden, the restorer’s experience is essential, and our’s is enhanced by a sharp sense of technology. Indeed, we have the means to observe objects with ultraviolet, infrared lights and X rays. A photograph of a painting, under laboratory conditions, is an extra guarantee for those acquainted with powerful chemical substances which, in inexperienced hands, could jeopardise the work of art.
We are fully aware of how precious a work of art is, and measure our responsibility every time.
