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Restoring a Masterwork II: Guercino's Erminia and the Shepherds
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Daily Log

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September 21, 2004

Inpainting Update
by Joan - Conservator


Into the seventh week of the conservation exhibition, the inpainting phase continues. Most areas of the painting are coming to completion and soon the painting will receive another layer of varnish. After the varnish is applied, a final sweep will be made to refine the inpainting work.


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September 22, 2004

The Lower Right Corner
by Joan - Conservator


David continues to concentrate on the complex, challenging lower right corner of the painting. Here, he is blocking-in the area right of the shepherd's legs. The red-brown horizontal areas represent losses in the paint layer veneered with a thin layer of pigmented wax. The wax allows the conservators to impart a texture that closely mimics the surface of the painting,


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September 24, 2004




Inpainting is a process of degrees; losses in the painting are gradually worked to a completed state.

The photograph at the top represents the before inpainting state of the still life objects at the foreground of the composition.

In the photo Below, the area is partially inpainted. With only the first layers of inpaint, the area already visually reads more completely.

 

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September 28, 2004

Tiny Brushes


The conservators have described their inpainting brushes as 'tiny'; here is the proof!


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September 29, 2004

Inpainting the Insert
by Joan - Conservator


David Marquis has blocked in the area at the boy's shoulder. In a prior restoration, a loss in the canvas was filled with an insert manufactured from a discarded painting fragment.

Now covered with inpaint, details of the architecture and the child's shoulder begin to emerge.

Also note that the stone ledge on which the children sit is visible; before cleaning and inpainting, the stone block was not apparent, nearly obscured with fill material and discolored overpaint from previous restorations.


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next Sep 11 - Sep 17, 2004 Introduction Sep 30 - Oct 7, 2004 next