In December’s blog posting I explained some of the variables involved with the treatment of damaged painting layers. The extent of the problems in conserving this painting could not be anticipated fully until the patches were removed and the nature of the fragile paint layer thoroughly analyzed. You can see in the photo on the left that the original damage was a relatively minor puncture tear in the deck of the boat. It was actually the action of patching that caused the majority of the damage. Too much moisture in the patching adhesive caused failure in the critical materials binding the painting together. Unfortunately, sometimes the best that can be done is to salvage as much as possible of the original even as attempts to do so are not as successful as is hoped. Once the compromised paint was stabilized and adhesion was re-established the process of loss compensation began and the integrity of the painting restored.

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