36255
Editor
Roelofs, W.G.Th.; Mosk, J.A.
Title Of Article Chaper
De restauratie van een handgedrukt papieren behangsel uit 1814 in het Kantongerecht te Harderwijk
Title Of Journal Book
Conservering en restauratie: benadering van de problemen
Pages
51-59
Collation
6 ills.
Reference Bibliography
Includes refs.
Publisher
Centraal Laboratorium voor Onderzoek van Voorwerpen van Kunst en Wetenschap (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Publisher City
Amsterdam
Language Of Text
Dutch
Language Of Summary
English
Literature Type
Monograph
Literature Level
Analytic
Abstract
Describes the treatment of wallpaper, designed by Antoine Pierre Mongin, showing scenes of daily life and landscapes in Switzerland. The wallpaper is composed of 20 widths, 67 cm wide, vertically divided into three pieces, 80 cm high. The strips were printed by hand, by the workshop of Jean Zuber & Co., in many colors using more than 1,000 wooden printing blocks. The wallpaper was in relatively good condition, with the lower part showing damage in areas within the reach of people. It was decided not to remove the paper from the wall as this could cause much additional damage. Consequently, the wallpaper could only be treated from the front. Other treatment problems included the large size of the wallpapers and the difficulty in applying pressure in a vertical position. The treatment consisted of three steps, cleaning of the surface, local repair of tears and cuts, and retouching. The dry dust was removed by gentle vacuum cleaning with a soft brush. Water stains were difficult to remove. In the end, they were retouched using a gouache and pastel technique. The edges of the printed designs are finished with strips of marbled paper. These strips were restored using pieces taken from a less visible location. The lacunae were filled with a neutral gray paper of the sort used in earlier restoration. Tears in the paper had been caused by shrinkage and could not be closed other than by filling them with paste and Japanese paper, covered with a strip of the same material, torn to size, and retouched to match the colors. Patches where loss of paint occurred, due to wear and folding, were retouched with gouache. The retouching is recognizable on close examination, because the gouache layer is thinner than the printing ink. The problem of fixing loose pigments has not been solved. A solution of Klucel G in alcohol could not be applied satisfactorily on the vertical paper.
Keywords
Mongin, Antione Pierre (French painter, printmaker, author, 1761/62-1827);wallpaper;Switzerland;printing blocks;retouching;filling
pub_id
36255
Title Translation
The restoration of the hand-printed paper wall hangings of 1814 in a courtroom at Harderwijk