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Artec de México Art and Technology to Preserve Works of Art |
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Arte y Negocios Magazine
CLEANING PROBLEMS IN WORKS OF ART RESTORATION People involved in restoration and conservation of art knows how complex the cleaning process can be, it is one of the most delicate and critical parts of the entire conservation process. To remove a varnish, and extra stroke of paint, a natural or artificial glaze is always totally irreversible intervention. Due to the fact to its irreversible consequences, the cleaning step must be a process that has been strictly meditated. That is, you must have deeply grown the knowledge of the structure as well as the knowledge of the pictured surface. Whatever the tool used to remove, whether it is a scalpel, a thinner, or today a laser, is necessary to answer three main point; the first one is what to remove, next the most complicated one is where to stop, and finally what technique to use. It is in first place a problem in the selection of the layer and the composition, and this is why a total control of this operation is required. In most cases the layer to eliminate is a yellowish varnish. Nowadays, nobody, or almost nobody will totally remove all the varnish. The correct objective is to make it thinner until we reach that layer without damage that enable us to recover the lost balanced color. That is, tuning the varnish respecting the track of time as an already achieved historical value. In the past the restaurateur was exposed to highly toxic solvents to be able to do this delicate operation. During the 80´s these solvents were gradually abandon and people went back to alcohol, trimming removers, and quetones as a solution to avoid the toxicity of solvents. Unfortunately, these solvents did not reach satisfactory the cleaning target on the piece. That is why, a scientific research and more specifically chemistry, began to be part of this process more intensively. Last decade the use of supported formulas was studied (those whose base is a gel or a smooth paste); the main idea was to improve the time of exposure between the cleaning agent and the surface or the object, avoiding the intrusions to a deeper layer. Meanwhile the remaining time will be helpful because of the usage of ideal cleaning gels. These gels are known as solvent-gels, while others that will be used at the beginning in the stretching action, will be known as resin-soaps (Richard Wolbers, American, has been promoting those applications). However, despite using solvent-gels as well as resin-soaps, not all the problems found in cleaning matters, have been solved. Not in a satisfactory way. The lack of effective scientific methods for more complicated cases is obvious. Therefore, it would be not only prudent, but totally necessary to invest in a scientific research in order to offer better alternatives, more efficient and above all, less to the piece and to the restaurateur. JRM
RECOVERY, RESTITUTION, RESTORATION
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