Features of the restoration of Buddhist thangka

Цель статьи — познакомить реставраторов и исследователей с традиционными и современными методами реставрации буддийской живописи на холсте, c оборудованием и материалами, которые применяются в лаборатории научной реставрации восточной живописи Государственного Эрмитажа. Актуальность данной работы продиктована развитием реставрационной практики буддийской живописи в последние десятилетия. В исследовании показано, как появление новых высокотехнологичных материалов, оборудования и методов исследования памятников позволяет реставратору более эффективно работать с ними. Также в данной работе показаны результаты изучения и исследования двух тангка. Комплексное исследование тангка, проведенное силами специалистов научно-исследовательских лабораторий, позволило правильно выбрать методики реставрации. Кроме этого, в работе приводятся краткие исторические сведения об иконографии и технологии создания тангка. В статье проводится анализ реставрационных методик и их выбора, рассматриваются этические проблемы, связанные с допустимой степенью вмешательства в структуру памятника. На примере сравнения подходов к реставрации двух буддийских тангка, реставрированных в разные годы (тангка «Образ буддийский Дорджэ Лэкпа» в 2018 году и тангка «Махакала синий шестирукий, трехглазый, стоящий на слоне с человеческой фигурой» в 2021 году), описаны различные методики. Анализ проведенных реставрационных мероприятий включает в себя описание проведенных исследований памятников до реставрации и методов отчистки поверхности, укрепления красочного слоя, восполнения грунта, выравнивания основы и восполнения утрат красочного слоя. В статье показана практическая значимость и результативность применения различных материалов, оборудования и методов реставрации буддийской живописи. Обобщены результаты реставрации обоих памятников. The aim of the article is to acquaint restorers and researchers of Buddhist painting on canvas with traditional restoration methods combined with modern equipment and materials that are used in the Laboratory of Scientific Restoration of Oriental Painting of the State Hermitage Museum. The relevance of this work is dictated by the development restoration practice of Buddhist painting in recent decades. It is shown in the study how the emergence of new high-tech materials, equipment and methods of studying monuments allows the restorer to work with them more effectively. Also in this paper, the results of the study and study of two thangkas are shown. Comprehensive the thangka study conducted by the specialists of research laboratories made it possible to choose the right restoration techniques. In addition, a brief work of historical information about the iconography and technology of creating a thangka is provided. The restoration techniques and their choices are analyzed in the article. Also the ethical problems related to the permissible degree of interference in the structure of the monument are examined. Using the example of comparing approaches to the restoration of two Buddhist thangkas restored in different years: the “Dorje Lakpa Buddhist Image” thangka in 2018, and the “Mahakala blue, 6-handed, 3-eyed, standing on an elephant with a human figure” thangka in 2021, various techniques are described. The analysis of the restoration measures carried out includes a description of the studies carried out on the monuments before the restoration, and methods of cleaning the surface, strengthening the paint layer, replenishing the soil, leveling the base and replenishing the losses of the paint layer. The article shows the practical significance and effectiveness of the use of various materials, equipment and methods of restoration of Buddhist painting. In conclusion, the results of the restoration of both monuments are summarized.

Recovery of a vandalized canvas painting our Lady of the Rosary from Vrlika (Croatia)

This study is related to the major recovery project of an 18th century oil painting on canvas depicting Our Lady of the Rosary, the patron saint of the parish community of Vrlika and its surroundings. During the Croatian War of Independence in 1992 it was taken off the main altar and vandalized by the paramilitary units. This resulted in termination of a century long tradition of annual feasts in Vrlika in which the painting was publicly displayed and carried by the townsmen. Based on the available visual materials: a high resolution old black and white photograph and the low resolution coloured one, respectfully, using the computer colorization algorithm, and also relying on detailed visual analysis of the original paint layer, a major reconstruction was carried out in 2017. This research has demonstrated that the recovery of the artworks with dramatic losses is an extremely complex social phenomenon difficult to characterize by any general factor or based on any general approach.

Scenery painting in the 19th century in the context of tempera painting on canvas: methodology and materials

Tempera painting on canvas has played multiple functions throughout the history of painting. They were used to cover altars in Lent, to make canopies and ceilings for beds, to act as organ doors, etc. In the 19th century and in the earlier 20th century, they were used as adornment on walls of palaces and theatres, as well as sceneries in the latter ones. Generally, this kind of tempera painting shows large proportions, which demanded a specific methodology of execution. Treatises of the epoch display how the painter, provided with paintbrushes of long handles, as brooms, walked on the canvases while the execution lasted. At that time, pigments derived from the activity of modern industry were already in use, in combination with other materials traditionally used in the previous centuries. This article presents the working methodology and materials used in tempera painting on canvas, mainly during the 19th century, providing a knowledge base for this subject.

Back protection of canvas paintings

A painting on canvas, stretched on a wooden frame, was fitted with various styles of back protection and then exposed to a cycle of temperature variation at the back, with the front exposed to a constant room temperature. The painting was also exposed to a constant wall temperature and varying room temperature. The space between the canvas and the back board was fitted with temperature and relative humidity (RH) sensors. The unprotected painting suffered a large RH variation at its back, because of the varying canvas temperature interacting with the constant room air moisture content. Effective stabilisation of the RH behind the canvas against temperature variation was provided by a shiny aluminium alloy sheet sealed against the frame. The non-absorbent back board experienced a strong variation in RH, because of humidity buffering of the space by the painting canvas at a different temperature. Either a space or insulation between this back plate and the wall reduced the risk of condensation on the inner surface of the back plate. Insulation will however increase the risk of condensation on the wall surface behind the painting. An absorbent back board de-stabilised the RH at the painting canvas surface by providing a competing humidity buffer at a different temperature. To provide protection against moisture exchange with an unsuitable room RH, extra humidity buffer was placed 3 mm behind the painting canvas, kept close to the painting temperature by insulation between this buffer and the back board. This stabilised RH at the canvas surface but increased both the temperature and the RH variation at the back board and thus increased the risk of condensation on the inner surface of the back board. The RH and the temperature in the narrow spaces between the painting canvas and the wooden stretcher frame were always more nearly constant than in the open canvas area, which suggests an explanation for the widely observed better condition of the areas of canvas paintings which lie close over the support structure. Our conclusion is that a non-absorbent, impermeable back plate gives good RH stability against a changing temperature gradient between wall and painting surface.