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

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

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.

ilia

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

ilia

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

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

ilia

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

learn fresco at http://FrescoSchool.org

fresco painting video tutorials: http://www.FrescoSchool.com

also visit

Fresco School Video Channel
http://youtube.com/FrescoSchool

Contemporary Fresco Gazette
http://trueFresco.Org
commission fresco or mural http://iLAdesigns.com