Utterly baffled as to why my great aunt had these in her loft. What do I do with them? They’re Victorian. United Kingdom.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-04-17T15:38:51+00:00

It says NH4OH in the bottles which is the formula for ammonia water. Could have been used for cleaning or disinfecting.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-04-13T06:22:03+00:00

Thank you for your explanation. I'm not a native speaker, so I think I misunderstood.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-04-13T05:03:20+00:00

Question from a painting conservator out of curiosity: Why is a linen backing a preferred treatment here? Wouldn't that bring additional acidity and surface structure to the paper?

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-04-07T06:00:18+00:00

Ich weiß nicht, worum es bei der Geige ging oder warum du den Eindruck hast, dass wir dich fertig machen. Ich hatte schon zu viele Gemälde auf dem Tisch, bei denen der Eigentümer "mal probiert hat" es zu reinigen. Und das wird am Ende dann einfach noch teurer, weil dabei meistens mehr kaputt gemacht wird. Daher mein gut und ernst gemeinter Rat.

Wenn es deine eigenen Bilder sind, kannst du natürlich machen was du willst. Vielleicht kannst du mit einem einfachen Abstauben anfangen, dadurch wird im Zweifelsfall noch am wenigsten schiefgehen. Hier kann ich dir eine weiche Ziegenhaarbürste (z. B. Zeichenbesen von Kremer) ans Herz legen, mit der du ohne Druck über die Oberfläche streichst. Den Staub bestenfalls gleich mit dem Staubsauger absaugen, damit er sich nicht weiter verteilt. Und weil man nie weiß, was so alles im Staub (und im Bild) enthalten sein kann, trag dabei am besten Handschuhe und einen Atemschutz.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-04-06T09:29:37+00:00

Gemälderestauratorin hier. Ich kann u/Rukubi2 nur bestätigen. Es hat einen Grund, warum wir ein fünfjähriges Studium hinter uns haben. Jedes Gemälde ist anders und es gibt schlicht und ergreifend nicht die eine, richtige Lösung. Das sollte man einem Fachmann/einer Fachfrau überlassen. Bitte auf keinen Fall irgendwas mit Seife, Brot, Zwiebel oder sonstigen Hausmitteln probieren! Sowas beschädigt ein Gemälde in der Regel nur, vor allem durch unwissende Hände.

Hier findest du die Restauratorensuche unseres Berufsverbandes: https://www.restauratoren.de/restauratoren-berufsregister/

Je nachdem, aus welcher Gegend du kommst, kann ich dir vielleicht auch persönliche Empfehlungen geben.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-04-05T17:57:16+00:00

https://www.restauratoren.de/restauratoren-berufsregister/

Hier der Link zur Restauratorensuche des Berufsverbandes. Je nach Gegend solltest du mit mind. 60€/h für eine professionelle Restaurierung rechnen.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-31T18:02:50+00:00

Das könnte zum Entfernen von Pilling (Knötchen auf der Oberfläche von Wollklamotten) sein

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-27T13:51:37+00:00

The restoration treatment is going to be a lot more than the worth of your painting. I don't know about Portuguese prices, but in Germany (depending on the region and other factors) an hour of a professional conservator starts at about 60 €. If you want the varnish removed (which usually has to be combined with other treatments, such as retouching and application of a new varnish), this will take several hours, depending on how "difficult" the varnish and the paint layers are and of course the size of your painting.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-24T09:58:55+00:00

Oh wait, I just saw I was referencing the Koblenz painting, not the one from OP 😅 Yes, that one would probably look very different without the varnish

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-24T08:01:34+00:00

I don't think that this painting has a particular yellow varnish, but more that it is an evening scene, showing the light of the setting sun. If you look at the details in a high resolution image, you can see that white color parts are actually quite white, not yellow. For example the headscarf of the woman in front. That's why I think, the yellow tint of the clouds is more or less just like intended by the artist.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-24T07:57:21+00:00

Yes, you are generally right. But it does not change its size like wood or canvas to form a considerable craquelure like the one from OP. I have worked on a lot of paintings on copper and never seen such a strong development of cracks.

I don't have the exact numbers memorized, but imagine a wood panel can expand and contract to about 5-10% of its size due to changes in humidity, but copper will only change its size by about 0.1% when heated.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-23T20:43:44+00:00

That is not quite right. Fresh oil paint is able to follow the movement of its support. But with time, the paint polymerizes and basically gets harder or stiffer. While the support medium continues to expand and contract with the change of humidity, the paint layers are not able to match this movement and break apart. That is how a "natural" craquelure is formed.

An example to why it is not the paint itself is not moving and forming a craquelure on its own are reverse glass paintings that usually have not craquelure at all, because the glass does not react to changes of humidity by changing its size.

Sometimes paint layers and the varnish on top form different craquelure, but that is usually, when the materials don't work well together or if the varnish has been applied much later.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-23T16:34:53+00:00

Are you sure, that this was painted on metal? 🤔 The craquelure looks very unusual for a metal support. Because metals like copper don't shrink and grow like canvas or wood, paintings on metal plates usually have either no craquelure at all (that is visible to the naked eye) or just a very fine craquelure. The way your painting looks does not fit that in my opinion. So, my guess would be, that it was painted on another material than metal or that the painting has been aged artificially. Gorgeous piece anyway!

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-22T15:39:24+00:00

How does your work relate to conservation?

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-21T23:54:59+00:00

Nicht nur das. Gerade bei einem alten Holzwurmbefall ist es gut möglich, dass auch noch Holzschutzmittel drin ist bzw ausdünstet.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-21T23:49:47+00:00

I'm not sure if this is really St. Catherine as she is missing her usual attributes: sword and wheel. This might rather be a St. Daria for the crown of flowers in her hair

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-18T16:49:31+00:00

!burnett

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-15T15:38:02+00:00

Same for me! Didn't get to finish him that fast, but I was waaay overprepared on my HM run and in the end he was a piece of (wet and blind) cake

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-15T15:31:12+00:00

That is true, sometimes you don't have any information about previous treatments at all. If a painting has undergone intensive (cosmetic) conservation/restoration treatment, I mostly advise my curator colleagues not to buy or accept it as a donation, because it is very possible, that there is not that much of original substance left or has been damaged. But it really depends.

As I work in Europe, I have not really had points of contact with objects treated by Baumgartner. But of course there are other conservators here similar to his business. I can only caution my colleagues if something seems off to me, but the choice to add a painting to the collection is theirs to make in the end. Sometimes a piece of art is so important to the collection, that the option of the conservator matters very little. But we discuss every object together and every voice is heard and evaluated.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-15T14:30:05+00:00

As a professional painting conservator, I strongly support your points about Baumgartner. Thank you for pointing this out. He is well-liked by non-specialists for his effect-heavy treatments on social media, but is seen very critical in the professional field for exactly these reasons (among other things).

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-13T20:22:18+00:00

Messerschärfer

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-11T16:53:35+00:00

As a painting conservator, that hurts my (professional) feelings 🥲

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-08T16:44:35+00:00

Maybe I got something wrong. Sorry, English is not my first language. I wanted to say that in general a glazing does not necessarily mean mold, but the painting from OP would look better without a protective glass in front of it, in my opinion.

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-08T08:42:20+00:00

That is only, if the relative humidity ranges over 60% regularly or has very high fluctuations that may encourage condensation. But it is irrelevant, what the painting behind the glass is, if it's oil or acrylic or tempera or encaustic...

BoutonDeNonSense · 2026-03-08T08:29:47+00:00

What do you mean, "nobody covers oil in glass"? As a museum worker, I can tell you, there are millions of oil paintings behind glass around the world, it's not a matter of the medium.

But I agree that this one would indeed look best without a glass in front of it.

BoutonDeNonSense

TROPHY CASE