The project was organized by the National Gallery of Ireland under the auspices of the Getty Conserving Canvas Initiative.
The goal was to train mid–carrier conservators on the theoretical and technical issues related to traditional and modern lining processes. A special focus was placed on the possible techniques to be used for the treatment of the painting by Guercino “St. Joseph with the Child” in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland.
The structure of the project was based on three one-week lining workshops held by Italian conservators.
- Workshop one: 2 conservators from Istituto Centrale per il Restauro (Rome).
- Roman paste glue lining
- Roman paste glue lining with polyvinyl alcohol
- Roman paste glue lining with Plextol B500
- Roman paste glue lining with Plexisol impregnation
- Workshop two: 2 conservators from Opificio delle Pietre Dure (Florence)
- Florentine paste lining
- Florentine paste lining (modified)
- Heath reactivated Plextol lining (2 variations)
- Workshop three: Antonio Iaccarino Idelson (Rome)
- Simplified Roman glue lining, using durum wheat semolina
- Solvent vapor reactivated Plextol B500 (6 variations)
- Solvent vapor reactivated Paraloid B72 (6 variations)
- Beva (used as a film and as a paste)
All conservators used the same Claessens 15 linen painters’ canvas as the common mockup, and at the end of the project all the methods were compared through on site peel tests.
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