In the past the restore masters fastened the plaster, cleaned the painting from soiling and painted the places dropped. It is known that the dropped places they had to paint obligatory as it was considered the church decoration must be completed.

Nowadays the requirement to restore works has changed. Now they must not only fasten the plaster but also take away the layers but the first painting and the dropped places are painted by needed tones.

The process of restoration consists of some stages. The first stage is to fasten the plaster layer. The fastening begins from the lowest layer and gradually transits into dome. In those places where the plaster has come off they drill an opening and with the help of the rubber pear they pour a solution of lime and casein into. Then the plaster is pressed by the leaf of veneer. Between them they put a layer of cotton-wool. Then they let it alone for 3-4 days. After the plaster has pasted the cracks are cleared and puttied by lime puttying. If they meet large holes they clear the brickwork first, drive nails into, put steel, the nails are interlaced by the wire and only after it they put plaster on.

On the second stage they take off dirt and soot. If there is only one layer, they wash it by soap water. Then they put tones on the lost places and re-establish the painting just in old limits by egg tempera with formalin for desinfection and strengthening the paint.

If the painted layer is crumbling, the whole surface is treated by egg emulsion which form a protective pellicle. To strengthen the painting layer it is rolled by rubber through tracing-paper. After drying the process is repeated (washing, toning, fastening).

For taking off the latest oil paint layers they use different solvents. They usually use acetone for this or concentrate liquid ammonia compresses. After making the oil paint softer it is taken off carefully by scalpel layer by layer. If the oil layer is very thick it is not softened by solvents, it is warmed by the help of electric stoves done in the form of shield with a handle. When the first layer is opened they re-establish the plaster, small and large losses, make tones, add and strengthen the painting.

LAST EDITED ON 08-Mar-01 AT 02:23 PM (PST)

In addition to the above, I must note that presently non of the missing parts of fresco are being painted to match the original artists work. The color is applied in cross hatched manner to simulate the tone that the missing part would have had.

Ilia Anossov
http://www.truefresco.com/workshop

Hi,
I am considering restoring two paintings of roman ruins that I think are fresco but they have a glossy finish so I am not sure. Under the finish it looks as if the pigments soaked into the painting as the artist worked. So that makes me think they are fresco. I know this because the painting broke during shipment to me. (Boo hoo hoo hoo.... eh hem. Sniff.) The one is dated 1796 and signed Anten Kopp?et?. Signed. Dated. Boo hoo hoo hoo.....etc...etc. Enough. Life must go on.

Should I even attempt to restore these? If so, what kiind of plaster type material should I fill the cracks with? Then, of course, there is the matter of matching pigments. Any advice on where I should start reading up? Obviously I am in need of much help and quite possibly grief counciling. Any help you might offer would be greatly appreciated. I feel it would be much better to turn my energy towards restoring these paintings rather than plotting an "accident" involving my UPS delivery guy.

Thank you for any help you can offer,
Mary Beth

Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the paintings are 15"x22" and 18"x28" so are pretty good sized. They appear to be about 1/2 inch thick.

The 18"x28" one has old cracks and was affixed somehow to a board and then patched. The colors do not match well and I was planning on re-doing that one when I bought the pair. Seeing that the cracked one was affixed to a board makes me wonder if my first step with the newly cracked painting might be to affix it to a board to stablize it. But how? Epoxy? There are no markings on the back of it so I would not be covering up anything of importance.

Any thoughts(Other than kill the UPS guy)?
Mary Beth

>Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the paintings
>are 15"x22" and 18"x28" so are pretty good
>sized. They appear to be about 1/2 inch thick.
>
>The 18"x28" one has old cracks and was affixed
>somehow to a board and then patched. The colors
>do not match well and I was planning on re-doing
>that one when I bought the pair.

The idea is not so much to match the color as much as to "get rid" of white color of the new plaster.
Check the Sistine Chapel Restoraton book for pictures of how the restored portions should look.

> Seeing that the
>cracked one was affixed to a board makes me
>wonder if my first step with the newly cracked
>painting might be to affix it to a board to
>stablize it. But how? Epoxy?

Yes this would be the right thing to do. About using the epoxy - white portland cement slurry-like mixture will be a safer bet or check "Strappo Technique" for glue used traditionally for rmoving/relocating frescoes, however first you should determine if you are dealing with real fresco or not. You need to know what paster is used first.

>Hi,
>I am considering restoring two paintings of
>roman ruins that I think are fresco but they
>have a glossy finish so I am not sure. Under the
>finish it looks as if the pigments soaked into
>the painting as the artist worked. So that makes
>me think they are fresco. I know this because
>the painting broke during shipment to me. (Boo
>hoo hoo hoo.... eh hem. Sniff.) The one is dated
>1796 and signed Anten Kopp?et?. Signed. Dated.
> Boo hoo hoo hoo.....etc...etc. Enough. Life
>must go on.

If you let us know how/where you have accuired the paintings it would help to determine if they are frescoes or not.
Clossy finish may account to wax which is used somtimes over fresco, however there is a lot of "fresco mimiking" going around.

>
>Should I even attempt to restore these? If so,
>what kiind of plaster type material should I
>fill the cracks with?

For real fresco you would use lime plaster and earth pigments

>Then, of course, there is
>the matter of matching pigments. Any advice on
>where I should start reading up?

check "Storing Pigments" topic here and
http://truefresco.com/technique

Thanks for all of the information,Ilia. It is very appreciated. I will start reading up.

I have been e-mailing the woman who sold me the frescos and she says she bought them at an estate sale years ago and that they told her the paintings were shipped from overseas. Who knows how accurate her word is. Not that I doubt her, it's just that these were an e-bay purchase and you know how those can go! She didn't realize the paintings were signed or dated, but in her defence, the signatures are very small. It's almost as if the artist painted over the final coat of sealer (wax? resin?) and painted on all this detail in very fine lines. He outlined every leaf and stone. The substance he used to outline did not soak into the plaster like the blue of the sky or the brown of the dirt. It is very hard to explain. Could I send you an e-mail with photos attached?

Mary Beth

> Could I send you an e-mail
>with photos attached?
>
>Mary Beth

Yes, of cause. But the best way would be to post pics here as attachments.

hello i am doing a project on the restoration of knossos. do you know of any good books on that subject specifically or maybe a good one on restoring not just frescos but other works of art
thank
dylan
email me at dylan@dylanreed.org

Check http://truefresco.org for the latest on restoration

http://www.truefresco.org/fresco_restoration/000015.html
http://www.truefresco.org/murals_trompe_faux/000018.html