Conservation projects
Works dossier
Wacław Koniuszko
Title: "Evening reverie"
Date: 1878 r.
Technique: oil painting on canvas
Dimensions: 69 x 85 cm
The aim of the conservation was to make the painting easier to read. Before the preservation, it was not possible to correctly identify the composition of the image in visible light. During the conservation works, surface dirt was removed and a very thick layer of strongly yellowed varnish from the face of the painting. After cleaning, the missing fragments of the mortar layer and the defects of the paint layer were replaced. The whole surface was then covered with natural varnish.
The image was subjected to comprehensive examination. Among other things, a non-invasive analysis of the elemental composition of pigments was performed using an XRF spectrometer. The measurements carried out confirm the presence of dating pigments characteristic for the end of the 19th century.
Picture before maintenance
Image after maintenance
Painting under UV light before restoration work begins.
Infrared image before restoration work begun.
Visible light photo taken while removing a thick layer of yellowed varnish.
The close-up made in visible light, showing the effect obtained by removing the old varnish.
Image examination using digital radiography was also performed.
This revealed an originally existing portrait of the man seen in the photo below.
Conservation work carried out, including on the removal of the yellowed varnish and surface dirt, it allowed to identify the composition of the painting. The visible architectural elements indicated the convergence with the elements typical of the buildings and decor of the sacred complex. Iconographic material related to the architecture of Krakow was searched (the choice of the city resulted from its relationship with the author of the painting), which made it possible to identify the performance in question with the alley of St. Mary's Square, adjacent to the eastern part of the southern facade of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Mary's Basilica. This was indicated by specific epitaphs, a lantern and a preserved image arranged in a pattern characteristic of the period when the work was written.
View of the alley of Mariacki Square in Krakow around 1880.
Wacław Szymanowski
Title: Vendor (other title: "Vegetable Merchant")
Date: 1883 r.
Technique: oil painting on canvas mounted on a wooden sandwich board
Dimensions: 107 x 86 cm
The purpose of the conservation was to remove the dirty and yellowed varnish. Removal of bubbles resulting from the detachment of the canvas from the sandwich plate on which the painting was glued during the previous conservation. The next step was to put loose and raised scales of the paint layer, fill in the defects of the mortar layer and the paint layer. Securing the whole with the final varnish.
Picture before maintenance
Painting after conservation.
Painting during the removal of the yellowed varnish.
Photo taken under UV light, while removing a thick layer of varnish. Visible tear and old retouching.
Photo taken during the dislodging procedure - injection of binder into the bubble using a tear in the canvas.
Franciszek Sylwanowicz
Title: "Landscape"
Date: the 90s of the twentieth century.
Technique: oil painting on canvas
Dimensions: 120 x 200 cm
The aim of conservation was to restore the aesthetic value of the painting. The technique, large dimensions and fixed painting looms, caused numerous damages, deformations of the support and detachment of the painting layer. During the restoration works, smaller old repairs were removed, as well as large patches stuck to the reverse, causing distortions of the painting's face. The paint layer consolidation procedure was carried out on the double table, the losses of the mortar and the paint layer were filled. Than protective varnish was used on the whole.
Painting seen in visible light before conservation.
Painting after conservation.
Visible poor condition of the work - a peeling painting layer in the form of cup-shaped scales.
Visible light image showing primary cracks.
Hanna Żuławska
Title: "Reminiscences II Act"
Date: 1979 r.
Technique: oil painting on canvas
Dimensions: 86 x 115,5 cm
The aim of conservation was to restore the aesthetic value of the painting. Before conservation, it was stored in very bad conditions affected by dampness and fungi. The entire painting was disinfected. During the conservation works, fungal blooms, surface dirt and a yellowing varnish from the surface were removed, the missing fragments of the canvas were supplemented by pasting the patches at joint. The deformations and losses were so large that it was decided to duplicate the whole canvases. The missing corner was reconstructed imitatively. The looms were replaced with movable, chamfered ones.
Picture before maintenance
Image after maintenance
Part of the face of the painting, visible degraded corner before conservation, after filling in the defects of the canvas and mortar, and after reconstruction of the painting layer.
