Continued with Cleaning Upper Half

Continued with removal of varnish/overpaint throughout the top half of the painting (Pictured here: Ellen Nigro).

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Date: 2014-03-07

King Saul

Beautiful, subtle details in King Saul's face as well as the colors of his vibrant red robe were revealed after removal of the discolored, degraded varnish.

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Date: 2014-03-07

Goliath's Head

Goliath's head was executed skillfully and fairly quickly, using a darker palette to convey a somber effect. Many of these details were revealed during the cleaning process as well as old tears and abrasion to the paint layer that had occurred during a previous restoration attempt.

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Date: 2014-03-07

Female Head

This particular female head was applied directly atop the blue sky during the final painting stages (please refer to the X-radiography section). Unfortunately, this area eventually suffered from significant degrees of blanching in the varnish and darkened overpaint due to previous restoration attempts. During varnish removal, many of the original details in the face were successfully recovered

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Date: 2014-03-07

Continued Applying/Toning Fills

Fills continued to be applied to areas of loss throughout the bottom half of the painting. The team began to tone the white fills (both new and old) with red-brown colored gouache paints (Pictured here: Tia Polidori)

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Date: 2014-03-16

Continued Applying Fills and Began Toning

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Date: 2014-03-16

Before

A detail of the left edge during fill application. Note the presence of both old and new fills; areas of loss where the canvas has been left exposed have yet to be filled.

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Date: 2014-03-16

Before IMAGE

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Date: 2014-03-16

After

A detail of the left edge after fill application and during the toning process. Red-brown colored gouache paints were applied to all areas of fill in order to match the original stratigraphy of the painting, Cross-sectional analysis revealed that the artist applied at least two coats of red-brown paint to the canvas to serve as a ground layer before working up the composition.

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Date: 2014-03-19

After

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Date: 2014-03-19

Public Outreach

Dr. Timothy McCall and Kristin deGhetaldi host art history classes in front of the picture (Pictured here: Dr. Timothy McCall, Kristin deGhetaldi with Villanova University students).

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Date: 2014-03-24

Before Treatment

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Date: 2013-11-01

October 2013

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Date: 2013-11-03

October IMAGE

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Date: 2013-11-03

November 2013

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Date: 2013-11-05

November IMAGE

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Date: 2013-11-05

Continued Cleaning Process

Mixtures of organic solvents were used to remove most of the superficial varnish layers. However, areas that were covered with thick applications of overpaint required the use of solvent gels to gently swell and remove the unoriginal restoration, revealing the original paint layers beneath (Pictured here: Maggie Bearden).

timeline view   simple view
Date: 2013-11-07

Left Edge

The left and right edges are the most damaged areas of the painting and were therefore heavily overpainted during various restoration campaigns. A combination of free solvents and solvent gels were used to remove the darkened and discolored overpaint. This detail clearly shows how the overpaint was used to obscure old tears and losses to the painting layer throughout the torso of the standing soldier.

timeline view   simple view
Date: 2013-11-07

Right Edge

Heavy additions of overpaint were found covering the head and torso of the kneeling woman in the bottom right corner. Based on cross-sectional analysis, most of the overpaint in this area seems to have been applied during a 19th-century restoration campaign.

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Date: 2013-11-07

View of Reverse (Verso)

Removal of Superificial Grime/Dust: A thick layer of grime/dust had accumulated on the verso of the canvas and was removed using a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Arresting). Also shown in this image is the unoriginal wooden stretcher that was built for the canvas during the 1950s restoration campaign when the painting arrived at Villanova University (Pictured here: Kristin deGhetaldi).

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Date: 2013-11-16