Condition before treatment:
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•Very thick, dark, glossy and generally disfiguring varnish layer.
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•Old retouching only partly visible in UV light.
Removal of the coarse later over-paint turned the painting previously known as “A Musical Party” back into its original meaning: A Brothel Scene.
During varnish removal the true extent of over-paint became obvious and an X-ray was taken for further clarification. Unexpectedly this showed an additional face above the head of the viola playing woman. On the panel this correlated with a very coarse patch of over-paint.
Blisters possibly originating from heat damage but peculiarly orientated along the wood grain were present within the paint layer. Consolidation or flattening of those was not necessary, but to support the raised edges of broken blisters, those were filled.
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•Retouching:
Worn original paint, old and new fillings were retouched. New varnish was applied as isolating and final layer.
The painting after treatment
Treatment carried out:
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•Varnish removal and removal of over-paint:
During varnish removal
During removal of over-paint
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•Treatment of blisters in the paint layer:
UV light
X-ray
