Framing Conservation
The wood assemblages were becoming detached in places, weakened by years of handling and shipment.
An unloved beloved element of museum collections, the frame mirrors the evolution of fashion, styles and museology; charts the history of economics, society, politics, religion and design. As it captures the eye and the light, one might notice that it too is an object of admiration and praise.
The frame protects the art it houses and, in this role, inevitably suffers damage caused by unsafe handling or shipping methods. Nevertheless, its raison d’être is to shine the spotlight on the artwork.
At the Museum, we seek to situate works in their era. The frame highlighting the object serves as a reference. To create or recreate a given historical context, there are three possible options: restore the historical frame, create a copy of the original frame or upcycle a disused frame (recovery and finishing). The chosen strategy will depend on budget, time and the moldings and frames we have in stock.
Bust-length portrait of Napoleon in ceremonial robes
Sacha Marie Levay, conservation technician, responsible for frames
Sitting inside the frame for Bust-length portrait of Napoleon in ceremonial robes, by the Workshop of François-Pascal-Simon Gérard
To assert his influence, Napoleon offered portraits of himself to his representatives. The portraits in ceremonial guard were set off by gilded wood frames, sumptuously adorned with typical symbols of empirical style: bees, bay leaves, and blossoms of honeysuckle, lotus and lily. Crowned by an imposing eagle overlooking the viewer, our work’s frame affirms the importance of the illustrious figure to the Empire.
In preparation for the exhibition Napoleon: Art and Court Life in the Imperial Palace (2018), the frame needed to be restored to its original appearance. In fact, since its creation in the early 19th century, several generations of rather inadequate interventions had caused it to lose its lustre, therefore undermining its grandiloquent mission.
Before proceeding with the treatment, we conducted a preliminary probe, which led us to uncover more than 10 layers of accumulated materials – paint, lacquers, bronze paint, gesso, bole and several coats of gilding. It also revealed that the original surface was characterized by variegations in sheen. This effect was created by the juxtaposition of gilding with gold size (in the pearls, heart-leaves and inverted cavetto molding) and burnished water gilding (twists of the bay tree branches, eagle, floral ornaments, bees and flat surfaces). The restoration effort, which took the better part of over three months’ work, enabled us to clean, smooth out and clear the heavily laden surfaces to then recreate a satisfactory gilding that did justice to the carved reliefs and the complexity of gilding of that age.
The successive layers of restorations (some poorly executed) occluded the refined surface and ornaments.
The ornaments were scraped and filed down, and the flat surfaces were smoothed out. Note the white gesso (surface preparation prior to gilding).
The reworked surfaces were then coated with a base layer (coloured clay and rabbitskin glue).
The gilding of the leaves was applied to the prepared surfaces: gold size in some places, and water gilding in others.
The intense shine was removed from the new gold leaf, which was dyed to give it a more aged look.
The refined definition of the plumage was buried under the accumulated layers of varied materials used in past interventions.
The eagle’s feet before removal of the accumulated materials.
A detail on the feet shows the refinement (right) revealed after removal of the excess material (left).
Scraping and cleaning of excess layers reveal a more delicate and nuanced sculpture.
Losses were filled in and prepared with a new base layer.
A new layer of gold leaf is applied to the prepared areas. The newly applied gold is very bright and shiny.
A slight stressing and delicate patina effectively blend the new finish in with the natural aging of the original.
Surface detail after integration treatment
The eagle after treatment was completed
The hollowed out circumference needed to be touched up to improve the clarity of the ornaments. Here, the prepared surface was coated with a base layer before applying the gold leaf.
A bee during regilding
Bees before and after regilding
The surface of the torso with its patina blending treatment.
The layers of interventions reveal four (three, excluding the original gold coat) successive treatments, some of poor quality. Note how the accumulation of materials affected the crispness of the heart lines.
We found following layers laid over the original gilding. In chronological order: a second coat of gold leaf applied to the gold size, shellac, patina, red ochre paint (of undetermined nature), bronze paint (bronze powder mixed with linseed oil), gesso, bole, shellac, another layer of gold leaf applied to the gold size, and patina.
Formal gathering
This Chippendale-style Chinese frame was made in the 18th century, in the time of King George III, for the flourishing market of middle-class English collectors. These art lovers were as avid for this style of frame (prized by aristocrats) as they were for the highly fashionable Chinese art itself. To meet a growing demand for less expensive imitation luxury items, Chinese craftsmen worked quickly with affordable materials.
The frame enclosing our mirror was in fairly good condition when we acquired it, but its stability was compromised by a wide and deep fissure that cut across nearly the entire length of the upper portion. Despite a previous restoration, the crack was quite visible and was weakening the structure. Among other things, an excess of glossy glue had spilled over the fissure, spoiling the surface’s otherwise smooth and delicate appearance. Other flaws were noted, such as a loss of ornaments and the detachment of assemblages. We therefore needed to reinforce the weakened areas, ensure the integrity of the ornaments and make the surfaces uniform before exhibiting the work.
Visitors can now admire the painted mirror and its restored frame in the Asian art galleries of the Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery Wing for the Arts of One World.
Long, deep fissures cut across nearly the entire upper portion. Previously, they had been filled in with araldite. An excess of glue had spilled over the cracks, covering the gilding with a thick, glossy material.
The old adhesive was removed and replaced with wood inserts and injections of acrylic glue.
After the repairs, the surface of the fissures was filled in with pigmented wax and then finished with gold leaf.
The wood assemblages were becoming detached in places, weakened by years of handling and shipment.
Adhesive was injected into the openings. The ornaments were then held in place with clamps to secure them firmly.
The fissure after regilding and patination.
Another example of reinforcement and filling of a large crack using wood inserts and injections of glue.
Gold leaf filling and patinated finishing.
Note the coloured wax filling, which imitates the original bole.
The filling is gold leaf. It was dyed to blend in with the rest of the frame.
The upper fissure extended the entire thickness of the wood and needed to be reinforced. Insertions of wood and wood putty solidified the structure.
In order to reinforce the cracks, natural glue was pasted onto strips of linen, which were then laid over the areas that were filled with wood.
A base layer (animal glue and clay) was applied over the repairs to blend the treatments in with the rest of the frame.
A few examples of works restored
Kensett was among the most celebrated of the second generation of painters of the Hudson River School. Formed in the mid-nineteenth century and widely regarded as the first truly American school of painting, the group turned to the native landscape, particularly the areas around the Hudson River in New York, for inspiration.
Major restoration work was carried out on the frame of this work—the original one—by adding an outer moulding in order to complete what was actually only an elaborate mat. The fragmented ornamentation was redone and the gilding and patina restored in order to give the frame’s surface a harmonious finish. The painting thus regained its full nobility.
John Frederick Kensett, On the Hudson, 1855, oil on canvas, 154.3 x 119.7 cm. MMFA, gift of the family of Dr. F. Wolferstan Thomas
Conference - Frame and Framing in Canada History and Functions
The first academic conference on framing in Canada took place in October 2014. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts invited sixteen people (restorers, curators and scholars, as well as a framer and a gallerist) to share their experiences and expertise in this field.
Conference participants. Standing, left to right: Mathilde J. Durand (International Institute for Frame Study), Greg Humeniuk (AGO), Jacques Des Rochers (MMFA), Didier Prioul (Université Laval), Patrice Loubier (UQÀM), Élise Dubuc (Université de Montréal), Richard Gagnier (MMFA) and Daniel Drouin (MNBAQ). Sitting: Janet M. Brooke (independent curator), Anne MacKay (McCord Museum), Claude Payer (CCQ), Laurier Lacroix (UQÀM), Sacha Marie Levay (MMFA) and Charles C. Hill (former curator, NGC).
Absent when the photo was taken: Rémi Bédard, Pascale Galipeau, Alan Klinkhoff and Rosalind Pepall.
The Conservation Department section on this site is funded by the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications du Québec as part of the implementation of Measure 41 of Quebec’s Digital Culture Plan and by the Ville de Montréal under the Entente sur le développement culturel de Montréal.
