History includes changes. In art, each painting has its own history and character. Changes can originate from sources beyond the effects of materials and techniques, environment, handling, transit or storage. Changes to an artwork may result from prior repairs by amateurs.

Castle Towers, before

Castle Towers, after

Newfoundland Cottage, before

Newfoundland Cottage, after

Antiquated repairs, inadequate reconstruction of missing areas, and a limited knowledge of painting techniques can create significant alterations to artwork. Prior repairs may include overpainting, which is later applied paint that covers the original painting. Unskilled and distractive repairs can obscure a painter’s style or original intention.

Castle Towers, a landscape painted by Jock Macdonald, was visually altered by prior repairs. Examination of the artwork detected overpainting extending along the horizon, and included a cloud that was not original. An area of the painting had been subjected to water, resulting in lifting paint. Earlier repairs were limited to repeated applications of overpaint and fillers to this fragile area.

The conservation treatment of this painting included cleaning to remove engrained dirt, a pearlescent streaky varnish, overpaint and excessive fillings. Stabilization with an adhesive attended to the lifting paint. Only minor areas of paint loss were found beneath the changes made to the painting’s image, and these were minimally filled and inpainted employing museum standards.

Robert Pilot painted Newfoundland Cottage, in 1938. A large shady tree dominates the front garden and the overall composition. The painting technique used for this tree differs from the rest of the painting, and it has a muddy, dark appearance. Examination determined that the tree was not original. As the painting was cleaned and the overpaint removed, more of the cottage was uncovered and in the garden a large cross with a statuary tombeau came into view. Originally, this parish or habitant cottage had the cross as a benediction or family memorial. These changes to the composition were deliberately made to obscure the religious emblems.

Conservation treatment retrieved the original composition of both paintings. Castle Towers regained its sense of expansive and monumental space. Pilot’s Newfoundland Cottage had its regional and historical imagery rediscovered. When visual imagery is altered, our perception of an artist’s work, the painted narratives and the history it represents is distorted. Changes affect our history.

For more information visit the FACTS (Fine Art Care and Treatment Standards) website at www.artfacts.org.