Csornay Boldizsár - Dobos Zsuzsa - Varga Ágota - Zakariás János szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei 97. (Budapest, 2002)
FORRAI, KORNÉLIA HOÓS, MARIANNA-SOMOS, ÉVA: The Research and Restoration of a Painting on Panel, Transferred to Canvas, by Domenico Puligo. Madonna and Child with Saint Sebastian and Saint Roch
the cracked paint film and where it was broken like glass. It was evident before we started the restoration that the original paint layer is extremely thin and there are large areas of losses. Since it is not supported by any original ground, it would have been hazardous to remove all the stoppings applied after the trensfer. It was the result of the extreme thinness of the paint film that wet treatments and pressing during the transferring had radically altered the texture of the paint surface, which then received a remarkably fine grid pattern. The former wooden support's splinters had been found during the fine cleaning: these allowed us to determine the kind of wood. Preservation The information we have obtained of the actual condition of the painting by exposing it, confirmed our view that the preservation must be done with the most flexible and finest material. As the adhesive used at the transferring could have dissolved in that case, any substances containing aqueous solvents were excluded. The wax-resin adhesive commonly used with canvas paintings must be rejected, as well, on account of its high density, inclination to acidification, and colour deepening effect; BEVA 371 was rejected once again because of its high density and its worse dissolubility. Thus we have chosen Plexisol P550, an acrylic resin widely discussed in the technical literature 27 and having been in use since 1975. 28 This substance proved especially suitable for the treatment of fine textile cloths and painted standards. The paint surface was pasted over with shop paper, using Klucell M adhesive. The two rows of tacks that the lining canvases had been fastened with were removed, and the canvases were pulled away carefully from the muslin supporting the paint film. Pasteboard plates, covered with silicon paper, were employed to move the picture. The fine-cleaning of the back allowed us to recognize through the muslin how little had been left of the original ground. It was exactly this lack of priming why there was no more than one line of timber joining exactly determinable, all further ones could only be deduced from the former's position. We spread Plexisol solved in white spirit over the back of the painting, and the next day the facing paper was removed. During the first vacuum pressing, with the paint layer downwards, the preserving substance was distributed in the paint film. The original paint only absorbed Plexisol, which we held to be suitable for this exceptionally care-demanding work just on account of its better dissolubility. Vacuum pressing was repeated, yet neither the disappearance of the canvas impression could be achived, nor could the overlapped paintlayers be Kethnat, A., Die Verwendung von Acrylharzen und der Heiß-Siegelmethode zur Konservierung von Leinwandbildern, Maltechnik Restauro 2 (1977) 99-105; Demuth, H., Klebstoffmigration zur Malschichtbestiging bei Leinwandgemälden, Maltechnik Restauro 5 (1999) 331-335. 28 The choice had been fallen on this adhesive during consultations with Katalin Görbe, professor at the Conservator Training Institute of the Fine Arts University of Budapest.
