An Indian roller (and not the bird!)
Having slept well in our cells, and after a good breakfast of lentils and tea, we started work in the wonderful space outside the rector’s office which has been turned into our workshop whilst we are here at the Seminary. Elizabeth arrived bright and early having said goodbye to Sebastian before dawn as he had to return to the UK. Joanna arrived with Milena, Eveny and Manu, shortly followed by Jo and Sandesh, and all were put to work on the painting. One of the first tasks was to carefully draw out a template on tracing paper in order to be able to fill the large holes with a matching old canvas which Piero had brought out from Italy. The key here is to make sure that the weave of the canvas matches the old canvas, and to line up the wharp and weft. After more surface cleaning and preparation we were ready to turn the canvas over.
With a normal small painting this would be done with two boards to sandwich the painting, but here there are no boards big enough and we have to resort to using our ingenuity and the materials available to us. Using some plastic drain pipe (found in a disused pigsty!) as a support, and with all the team keeping the canvas under tension, we were able to roll the canvas over, being extremely careful not to create any folds or to tear the canvas. Success! With a sigh of relief we were now able to start cleaning the back of the painting.
Caetano had arrived during the process, and as the engineer among us was set to work to remove the nails from the old stretcher. We were fascinated to find that there were very unusual nails which were made of an unusual copper and bronze alloy which the European team had never seen before.
During another delicious lunch which we ate together with the priests from the Seminary Rhea arrived which meant that the full complement of Goan students are here to carry out this important project. It’s one of the key tenets of Restorers without Frontiers that we teach local students and leave a legacy behind, rather than simply doing the work, so it is very pleasing to see them all turning up keen to learn and have new experiences.
The cleaning of the back is painstaking work as every
patch previously put on (many of which were muslin rather than canvas) has to be carefully removed, and the old glue which had been used (which we think was PVA) gently scraped away. We were using brushes to gently take away the dust and the odd animal dropping, and the whole team were careful to wear face masks.
Once it became too difficult to remove the synthetic glue because it was so hard and too thick and we wanted to check the painted surface therefore it was decided to turn the painting. This is an enterprise which was executed to perfection. This time we were able to use a different technique, which was to gently side the canvas onto a plastic sheet, and carefully put this on to the stretcher (from which all the nails and protuberances and been removed). Once on the stretcher we secured it with tape and more plastic sheet, and then the whole team was involved in lifting and turning the painting over. We were then able to slide the canvas off the stretcher, and were once again ready to work on the front surface.
Now we had to start work again to undo the stitch work where the large tear had been, and to remove the glue that was holding the stitches. More back breaking work kneeling on the floor and scraping away, and we discovered that we did not have enough scalpels. Luckily Caetano was able to tell us of a wholesaler in the local town where we could find these, so a small expedition set out on a voyage of discovery! The shop did indeed normally stock scalpels, but an eye surgeon had been in that morning and bought twenty, so he was only able to sell us one, but we considered this a blessing in any case.
We stopped off at a cake shop on the way back to bring some presents back to the Seminary, and were here in time for dinner together with the priests – much banter and laughter in a mixture of English, Italian and Konkani (the local Goan language), and then off to bed and a good night’s sleep.
With a normal small painting this would be done with two boards to sandwich the painting, but here there are no boards big enough and we have to resort to using our ingenuity and the materials available to us. Using some plastic drain pipe (found in a disused pigsty!) as a support, and with all the team keeping the canvas under tension, we were able to roll the canvas over, being extremely careful not to create any folds or to tear the canvas. Success! With a sigh of relief we were now able to start cleaning the back of the painting.
Caetano had arrived during the process, and as the engineer among us was set to work to remove the nails from the old stretcher. We were fascinated to find that there were very unusual nails which were made of an unusual copper and bronze alloy which the European team had never seen before.
During another delicious lunch which we ate together with the priests from the Seminary Rhea arrived which meant that the full complement of Goan students are here to carry out this important project. It’s one of the key tenets of Restorers without Frontiers that we teach local students and leave a legacy behind, rather than simply doing the work, so it is very pleasing to see them all turning up keen to learn and have new experiences.
The cleaning of the back is painstaking work as every patch previously put on (many of which were muslin rather than canvas) has to be carefully removed, and the old glue which had been used (which we think was PVA) gently scraped away. We were using brushes to gently take away the dust and the odd animal dropping, and the whole team were careful to wear face masks.
Once it became too difficult to remove the synthetic glue because it was so hard and too thick and we wanted to check the painted surface therefore it was decided to turn the painting. This is an enterprise which was executed to perfection. This time we were able to use a different technique, which was to gently side the canvas onto a plastic sheet, and carefully put this on to the stretcher (from which all the nails and protuberances and been removed). Once on the stretcher we secured it with tape and more plastic sheet, and then the whole team was involved in lifting and turning the painting over. We were then able to slide the canvas off the stretcher, and were once again ready to work on the front surface.
Now we had to start work again to undo the stitch work where the large tear had been, and to remove the glue that was holding the stitches. More back breaking work kneeling on the floor and scraping away, and we discovered that we did not have enough scalpels. Luckily Caetano was able to tell us of a wholesaler in the local town where we could find these, so a small expedition set out on a voyage of discovery! The shop did indeed normally stock scalpels, but an eye surgeon had been in that morning and bought twenty, so he was only able to sell us one, but we considered this a blessing in any case.
We stopped off at a cake shop on the way back to bring some presents back to the Seminary, and were here in time for dinner together with the priests – much banter and laughter in a mixture of English, Italian and Konkani (the local Goan language), and then off to bed and a good night’s sleep.