Paintings and Restoration After Smoke Damage
I've tried researching a bit about painting restoration methods, and I've found quite a lot, but I've found several links which have told me to use either emulsion cleaner for dirt, smoke and dust, and varnish remover for removing old, yellowed varnish. Does that mean we can't use both?
The painting being troubled over in the story was kept inside a house which had burned down a long time ago. The painting stayed safe due to it being taken from the house just in time, but the soot and smoke blackened the painting's edges, and with the time that has passed from the fire to the beginning of the story (around five centuries), the varnish has aged and yellowed with the soot on it the whole time. The varnish was already on the painting before the fire, so would the fire or heat have had any effect on the varnish? If it means anything, the varnish I have in mind is copal varnish, which I imagine should clue into the fact that the painting is from around the 16th century, if I'm not mistaken.
I'm wondering if heat from very close flames (but not burning or direct contact with fire) would have affected the painting and its future cleaning process in any manner, if soot and smoke damage can be cleaned off of old, yellowed copal varnish with little worry, and if cleaning off the soot with emulsion cleaner and following it with varnish remover is appropriate for the painting.
I've Googled all sorts of restoration-related terms, such as 'emulsion cleaner paintings' or 'varnish remover paintings' or 'heat varnish paintings' and several other combinations, and have found several useful websites like (http://www.gainsboroughproducts.com/cleaning_article.html), which reads a bit like an advertisement but has useful info anyway, (http://www.restoration-advice.org/Pages/paintings.html), which is just as useful but littered with ads and unclear wording, and (http://www.art-conservation.org/GLOSS_Paint.htm). None were really as specific as I was looking for, though.
Thank you very much!
The painting being troubled over in the story was kept inside a house which had burned down a long time ago. The painting stayed safe due to it being taken from the house just in time, but the soot and smoke blackened the painting's edges, and with the time that has passed from the fire to the beginning of the story (around five centuries), the varnish has aged and yellowed with the soot on it the whole time. The varnish was already on the painting before the fire, so would the fire or heat have had any effect on the varnish? If it means anything, the varnish I have in mind is copal varnish, which I imagine should clue into the fact that the painting is from around the 16th century, if I'm not mistaken.
I'm wondering if heat from very close flames (but not burning or direct contact with fire) would have affected the painting and its future cleaning process in any manner, if soot and smoke damage can be cleaned off of old, yellowed copal varnish with little worry, and if cleaning off the soot with emulsion cleaner and following it with varnish remover is appropriate for the painting.
I've Googled all sorts of restoration-related terms, such as 'emulsion cleaner paintings' or 'varnish remover paintings' or 'heat varnish paintings' and several other combinations, and have found several useful websites like (http://www.gainsboroughproducts.com/cleaning_article.html), which reads a bit like an advertisement but has useful info anyway, (http://www.restoration-advice.org/Pages/paintings.html), which is just as useful but littered with ads and unclear wording, and (http://www.art-conservation.org/GLOSS_Paint.htm). None were really as specific as I was looking for, though.
Thank you very much!