Repair and Retouching of Damages to a Photogravure Print Mounted on a Stretched Canvas

19th century aquatint photogravure adhered to a stretched canvas

Brief Condition Report

This object suffered damage in the form of two punctures, one on the image area and one on the border, and an abrasion connecting theses marks, located recto in the middle of the right side. The stretched canvas upon which the print was attached suffered no damage beyond a slight deformation.

Brief Treatment Report

The object was thoroughly surfaced cleaned, particularly in the region of the punctures. With the use of backing support, repairs were made using wheat starch paste. The afflicted area was locally humidified and then pressed. The tear on the image was retouched using the pointillist method in watercolour, which replicated the patten of the printed surface. The tear in the border area darkened at the skinned edges because of soiling that was not possible to remove as well as the darkening of the adhesive as it dried, and was therefore overlaid with a compatible paper. The overlay was well blended to the surface to the touch, but despite the used of 1:1 methylcellulose and wheat starch paste, the overlay darkened and was distracting to the eye. The overlay was toned using pastel and coloured pencil.