Treatment of a Hand-painted Aquatint Mounted on Stretched Canvas
This hand-painted aquatint was published ‘Nov. 19th 1854 by ‘Henry Graves & Compy Printsellers in Ordinary to her Majesty & H.R.H. Prince Albert. _ 6 Pall Mall.’ It measures 97 x 66.2 cm (platemarks 87 x 56.5 cm). The paper is a hot-pressed rag paper (thickness 0.4 mm). The print is adhered to a stretched canvas. The textile is likely cotton and is plain weave. The strainers are likely to be pine and are chamfered in the interior, canvas facing edge and affixed in a lap joint, which is nailed together.
Based on the evidence of the technical examination, the pigments are likely to be as follows:
Blue: Prussian blue (horse, trees - dark in FC-IR), cerulean (sky - pink in IR-FC)
Red: potentially vermillion (hue, date, yellow in IR-FC)
Browns: raw and burnt umber (unknown why the yellow-green glow in FC-IR)
Orange: chrome orange
Yellow: yellow ochre
Dark green: chrome or cobalt? (FC-IR not indicative)
Light green: terra verte (grass – dark neutral in FC-IR)
White: zinc
Black: carbon
Brief Condition Report
The print is in relatively stable condition. There is some general discolouration due to ageing and extensive foxing. Silverfish damage can be found in the lower left corner of the paper and canvas (not the strainer). There are also some minor losses to paper substrate at the edges of the paper.
Brief Treatment Report
The object was firstly surface cleaned. After careful consideration, it was decided to remove the print from the stretched canvas. In order to do this, the canvas was cut through at the edge to release the canvas-baked print from the strainers. The canvas substrate was removed mechanically, with special attention to the silverfish-eaten corner. Remnants of adhesive were sanded from the verso of the paper.
Due to solubility of gum arabic applied superficially to the horses as an aesthetic effect, aqueous treatments were performed with the object resting on a screen level with the water in the bath. Previous to aqueous treatments, the object was humidified in a chamber for approximately 1 hour. The print was screen washed in deionise water as well as an alkaline water bath. An aqueous bleaching solution was sprayed on the back as well as the front, with the addition of a template to protect the image area, as well as applied locally with a brush on prominent foxing stains. The object was screen washed again in an alkaline water bath before drying.
