Big Pictures--Problems and Solutions for Treating

Big pictures offer challenges far greater than an enlarged surface area and outsize dimensions, and this publication documents situations faced by both conservators and curators when working with paintings ranging in scale from unusually large portrait miniatures to panoramas. Solutions for the problems presented by pictures too large for lorries, unable to fit through windows and doors and beyond the dimensions of any lining table are described in detail, discussing work in a range of formats, including friezes, theatre cloths and ceiling paintings. These projects demonstrate how large-scale works of art can be moved, treated, displayed and stored safely and efficiently and reveal the ingenuity, flexibility and audacity required when dealing with big pictures. CONTENTS Foreword by Jim France Conservation of Large Miniatures on Ivory Alan Derbyshire The Conservation of Large-Format Works of Art on Paper Jean E. Brown The Conservation and Reinstatement of the Lonsdale Frieze, Mount Stuart Clare Meredith and Colleen Donaldson Installation of L Escargot, by Henri Matisse Calvin Winner Cy Twombly: Big Pictures in a Travelling Retrospective Michael Duffy Touring Robert Rauschenberg’s 32-ft Long Painting Barge Gillian McMillan The Problem of the Seven Foot Door Ian McClure The Unloved Painting by Guido Reni Christine Leback Sitwell Using Aluminium for a Stretcher: A Practical Assessment Jacqueline Ridge, Dave Jones and Jack Warans The Challenges of Storing a Collection of Theatre Backcloths Nicola Costaras and Stephen King The Battle with Trafalgar Valentine Walsh and Richard Pelter A Cold-Lining Technique for Large-scale Paintings Kate Seymour and Jos van Och The Structural Treatment of a Series of Large Dynastic Portraits of Louis XIV and Family Onsite at Chateau de Balleroy, Normandy Jim Dimond with Warwick MacCallum The Restoration of Caravaggio’s The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist Marco Ciatti The Battle of Meanee by Edward Armitage, 1847 Claire Chorley The Defeat of the Floating Batteries off Gibraltar by John Singleton Copley: History and Display Gerry Alabone with Louise Dandy The Defeat of the Floating Batteries off Gibraltar by John Singleton Copley: A Painting Waiting for a Wall Sally Woodcock