Villa Near Sea

Oil on Canvas - Artist Unknown

This painting came to my conservation studio from Dinah Bowman Art Gallery. The age and artist are unknown but the painting is of excellent quality.
The painting's hanger wire came loose from the frame and it fell causing a large tear. I was contracted to only restore the torn area. There were two restorations
done at an earlier time. The quality of these restorations is very poor and are visible from the front. There are other defects in the artwork but restoration of these problems were not in the scope of this work.

The painting is in overall very good condition. Paint is tight to the canvas with minimal cracks in the surface.

The first two images show the condition of the painting when it arrived at the studio. The earlier restoration is clearly visible along with a light defect down the center where the canvas as been up against the center vertical stretcher bar.

The following four images are close ups of the damaged area. The first is with no back lighting. The second shows the extent of the tear by applying light to the rear of the canvas. The final two images show the damaged area very close both front and back.

The next two images show the start of restoration from front and back. Compare this area to the earlier restoration where the adhesive was smeared over a large area causing a warp in the canvas that is visible from the front. Here the adhesive is carefully applied and the reinforcing material is also applied with great care.

This image is taken after the primer is applied to the repaired torn area. There is no distortion of the canvas. The only visible difference in the area of restoration is where the varnish has been removed. This will be corrected as the final stage of restoration.

The following images show the finished restoration. The restoration done previously by someone else is visible upper left of center. Also note the difference in the restoration shown in the image of the back of the canvas.

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