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The Conservation Department
 Conservation Department
Conservation of Cruikshank’s The Worship of Bacchus:
Demon Drink |
Before Treatment |
Conservation Treatment |
Cruikshank's Painting Technique
The Conservation Treatment
During 1995/96 as part of the preparation for the transfer of all
the art works from the Tate’s old store in west London to the
new one in Southwark, some temporary conservation treatment was
necessary on the painting to make it safe for transport. This included
reattaching the canvas to the stretcher with a strip-lining where
it had split at the edges and securing the tears with tissue and
adhesive. The stretcher corners were fixed and also the very top
layer of surface dirt was removed.
Carrying out conservation treatment before the move to the new store
at Southwark.
Major conservation work was undertaken for the in focus display
which opened at Tate Britain in May 2001. First the surface dirt
was removed from on top of the varnish. A suitable solvent mixture
for this was selected after numerous small trial tests were initially
carried out with various mixtures.
View of the painting being cleaned
Another solvent mixture was selected to remove most of the discoloured
varnish layer and the dirt underneath that it had combined with.
It was not possible to remove these layers completely as in some
places the paint was vulnerable to solvent action. The final stages
of cleaning involved carefully cleaning several times to leave an
acceptable even finish. The painting was then positioned horizontally
on a specially prepared surface to allow the stretcher, the sewn-on
and the temporary strip linings to be removed. The free canvas was
then placed under the weight of flat boards for some time which
almost completely removed the undulations in the canvas without
further treatment. The reverse of the canvas was cleaned using a
dry method.
General view of painting positioned horizontally
So that the painting could now be manoeuvred safely and to hold
it in a flat plane it was temporarily attached, by the strip lining
and staples, to an adjustable loom. The loom was held in a free
standing vertical position by supports fixed to the sides, so that
the front and reverse of the painting could be accessed easily for
further treatment.
Permanent repair was now carried out on the tears. A de-acidification
solution was applied to the reverse of the canvas to slow down its
future deterioration by both neutralising existing acidity and depositing
a buffer to counter future acidity.
New pieces of canvas similar to the original were used to replace
missing pieces at the corners. Smaller losses and damages near the
edges and those associated with the tears were replaced with a filler.
The painting was then removed from the loom and re-mounted on a
new stretcher with a pre-attached 'loose lining' canvas stretched
on it.
Reverse view of painting on the new stretcher
The stretcher was mainly constructed from aluminium rather than
traditional wood to produce a lighter and more rigid structure.
The loose lining linen canvas was attached to give the painting
additional overall support. It was prepared with an acrylic gesso
primer to help stiffen it. This contained a high chalk content to
act as a further buffer against environmental acidity.
The paint losses/damages were retouched with a reversible, stable
and non-yellowing acrylic resin binder hand ground with dry pigments.
The painting was re-varnished with the same resin applied in thin
layers with a spray gun.
Framing
The frame had disappeared, so another one had to be made. There
was insufficient information about the style of the original one
except for the spandrels on the top corners, so the new one is based
on a mid-nineteenth century neo-classical design partly finished
with toned gilding and partly with black lacquer.
Photos: Tate Photography
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