Lining Paintings

The Conference on Comparative Lining Techniques held at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich is legendary. It was the first major conference solely concerned with the structural conservation of paintings and, by bringing together a distinguished international group of practitioners to discuss lining paintings, it changed the nature and status of the debate. The conference responded to a period of accelerating change, especially the introduction of new materials and technologies, and the papers presented compare established practice with cutting edge research and development, empirical craftsmanship with scientific methodology with the goal of refining the practice of lining and minimising the risks of change to the painting. The extraordinary atmosphere, the films, demonstrations, the Lining Exhibition Gallery encouraged radical review. The papers and conference materials record practice and principles at a critical moment in the history of conservation and constitute one of the most important foundational texts about conservation in the late twentieth century. This volume contains the papers as originally presented – some with a present day comment by the author. Additions include a glossary of terms (previously issued as a handbook) and an up-to-date bibliography. Contents Effects of Consolidation Measures on Fibrous Materials – Gustav A. Berger and Harold I. Zeliger Wax Impregnation of Cellulose: An Irreversible Process – Gustav A. Berger and Harold I. Zeliger The Removal of Old Linings from Oil Paintings by the Use of the Vacuum Hot Table – John R. Essex A Method for Lining Canvas Paintings with Glue Composition – Peter Newman Comparisons of Dimensional Stability Between Woven Glass Fibre Fabric and Conventional Linen Canvas as Lining Supports for Paintings – Pierre Boissonna Consolidation and Lining Adhesives Compared – Robert E. Fieux Notes on a Recent Relining Problem – Joan Seddon Prestretched Low Pressure Lining Methods – Ronald Chittenden, Gillian Lewis and Westby Percival-Prescott Lining of a Torn Painting with Beva 371 – Gustav A. Berger Microbial Environment: SEM Examination of the Microbial Environment in Works of Art – Björn Hallström and Bo Göransson Hand Lining with Wax-Resin Using an Iron – Georges Messens Unusual Examples of Lining on Wax-Resin – Bohdan L. Marconi Lining in a Vacuum Envelope with a Traversing Infrared Heat Source – G. A. Hedley, S. Hackney and A. J. Cummings Surface Texture Changes in Vacuum Lining: Experiments with Raw Canvas – Alan Cummings and Gerry Hedley Characterisation of Lining Canvases – Enzo Tassinari Relining of Easel Oil Painting with Sturgeon Glue – L. Yashkina Adhesive Method of Consolidating Oil Paintings with Cuppings and Hard Craquelure – L. Yashkina Lining and Relining Methods and Rules Evolved at the National Gallery Conservation Department – Arthur Lucas The Development of Wax-Composition Lining Among the Members of the Association of British Picture Restorers – Philip Robinson Italian Lining Techniques: Lining with Pasta Adhesive (and Other Methods) at the Fortezza da Basso, Florence – Umberto Baldini and Sergio Taiti The Lining Cycle: Causes of Physical Deterioration in Oil Paintings on Canvas – Westby Percival-Prescott A Low-Pressure Cold-Relining Table – V. R. Mehra Some Effects of Impregnating Adhesives on Paint Films – Gustav A. Berger