(1810 - 1894)
Title: The Meet Technique: Oil on canvas
Signature: Not present
Dimensions: 46 x 61 cm
Frame: Wooden, gesso moulded, gilded gold
Treatment: October – December 2006

CONDITION REPORT
SECONDARY SUPPORT: The wooden stretcher has 4 members, and all 8 keys are still present. The overall condition is sound. This appears to be the original stretcher.

PRIMARY SUPPORT: The primary support is an unlined Winsor and Newton canvas. The canvas stamp reads

Winsor & Newton
Artists Colour Linen
To…………….th
& hr Prince…….rt
38 Rathbone Place
There is one canvas patch that measures 35 x 55 mm and this is seen on the upper left hand side.

GROUND: The ground extends around the tacking margins and is cream in colour. This is to be expected as it is a commercially-prepared canvas. The ground is lifting in a tenting-pattern in the lower half of the painting.

PAINT LAYER: The artist has applied his paint thinly with slight impasto in the highlights. The paint layer, like the ground, is lifting in a tenting-pattern in the lower half of the painting. Fine localized age-crack patterns can be seen. Overpaint is only seen in the area of the tear repair.

VARNISH LAYER: The natural resin varnish layer is discoloured and a layer of surface dirt covers this. This is not the original varnish as the painting has been previously restored.

TREATMENT CARRIED OUT A photographic record was taken and this was maintained throughout the treatment.

Consolidation of the tenting-pattern was carried out.

Tests were carried out to remove the surface dirt and this was removed using the appropriately selected reagent.

Following tests including a safety margin-cleaning test, an organic solvent was selected to remove the discoloured varnish layer safely and effectively. Cleaning proceeded using a swab stick.

Dirt was removed from between the canvas and the stretcher bar and the back of the canvas was cleaned.

An isolating conservation-varnish was applied. Small localized losses were retouched and a final varnish applied.

The frame, both front and back, were cleaned, small losses filled and coloured and the painting was secured in its frame using brass plates.