THERE is visual satisfaction in restoring artwork to its former glory, but a kind of emotional journey, too, the director of the Fine Art Restoration Company, Chris Bull, suggests.
It is likely to be true of ecclesiastical buildings, in particular, which contain centuries’ worth of fine art, ranging from paintings on the wall to kneelers on the floor, from tapestries to bas-reliefs, hatchments, and memorials. “Anybody in conservation would say churches are bad environments for all of these things,” he says. “But these objects were created for the places they are in, and that’s where we must maintain them. They’re real life; they tell the story of the church. We can’t move them to a museum.”
Fluctuation in temperatures and humidity warps and cracks wood. Historic varnishes and damage from smoke discolour paintings and sculptures. The burning of candles causes soot damage to artwork, and exposure to sunlight damages paper and textiles. Even with the best of intentions to prevent it, accidental damage from maintenance work or gatherings can result in anything from a torn or dented canvas to a broken sculpture or stained textile piece.
Paintings are the worst-affected, being particularly vulnerable to environments where damp triggers big changes in humidity. The very richness of their history is often the imperative for restoration: something amply illustrated by the company’s recent work on altarpiece paintings at Farnborough Abbey, a Benedictine community since 1895.
They are copies of a Rubens triptych, measuring 14 ft by 5 ft and commissioned for the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp in 1611. The centrepiece is a Descent from the Cross; the two side panels are a Visitation and a Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Napoleon Bonaparte had the triptych removed from the cathedral in 1794, but it was restored after his defeat in 1815. Two good copies made their way to Farnborough.
The paintings and frame were covered in a thick layer of dust, soot, and smoke, toxic in itself and leading to further deterioration. Surface cleaning on such a large canvas involved inch-by-inch swabbing to prevent dirt moving across the painting: a painstaking, three-week process requiring more than one conservator, to ensure that the entire surface was clear. The crevices of the frames also contained thick layers of toxic smoke particles and atmospheric debris.
The next stage was the varnish: the organic nature of traditional varnish results in decay and yellowing, worsened over time by soot and dirt. More inch-by-inch swabbing cleared it away. Once the original colour was restored, a new layer of UV-protected, non-yellowing varnish was sprayed on.
Seeing the colours come back had been amazing, Mr Bull said. “You get to see the artwork as the artist intended it to be. Putting it back in the Abbey was fantastic. There were lots of different types of damage to them, but the main thing was we didn’t have huge structural or complex issues of paint peeling. They were just really blackened by soot and candles, and not too difficult to treat.” The whole process took about 16 weeks.
THOUGH a great deal of the company’s work is in the south of England, and it has a London studio, its main base is in Cumbria. “It’s a great place to live and work, a wonderful quality of life for our team. It was a fortunate move to the north of England,” he says. “We’ve got about 12,000 square feet of studio space, which allows us to complete all these complex projects. It’s a really brilliant part of the country.”
And, though the modern studio embraces significant technological advancements in the way in which works can be cleaned, using different gels and a variety of processes, many of these techniques are combined with historical methods that have passed the test of time. “It’s quite nice that you have that connection to the past, as well,” he suggests.
Fine Art Restoration CompanyRestorer at work on altarpieces after Rubens from Farnborough Abbey during restoration
Churches’ best efforts at preventing damage can sometimes be thwarted, bringing the accompanying anguish of deciding just how far to go in seeking to restore precious objects. St Peter’s, Monmouth, a 12th-century parish church on the banks of the River Wye, has suffered from flooding throughout its history. It floods twice a year at least, and generally the fire service is called in, and things are up and running again in a couple of weeks.
But 2020 brought almost the worst flooding in living memory: the highest previous water levels had been recorded in March 1947. Heavy rain in November 2019 had already caused damage costing the church £130,000 in repairs, but Storm Dennis struck in February with such ferocity that levels exceeded six feet.
The church has a purpose-built balcony to keep items out of reach of flooding, but the water surged in with a force strong enough to shift pews and benches. Wooden objects and precious textiles at ground level were badly affected. There are inevitable delays for decision-making after such an event, Chris Bull acknowledges, and it was some time before the company was able to come in and assess the damage.
“By the time we got there, the water had affected the interior contents for several weeks,” he said. “It’s often what happens: it’s no one’s dream, but it’s what happens. The water had receded, but everything was wet: a combination of silt, mud, and mould. So it was all very unfortunate.”
The company documented and triaged the items and transported them to Cumbria. “We had been able to start drying everything out, which is the critical thing — very carefully, doing nothing too radical, to avoid shrinkage or damage,” he says.
Many were wooden artworks, including a set of three statues contaminated with brown water: fresh water mixed with mud and pollution or toxins from sewage and bins. Without cleaning and the removal of deposited dirt and contaminants, their structure could begin to decay from the inside out. The wood was then sealed where needed, the colour was revived with a matching polish, and the wood was waxed — a further barrier to moisture — for future protection.
There were many textile casualties to assess, including altar cloths, cushions, and a set of 25 hand-made and uniquely embroidered kneelers — the latter always cherished for the time spent making them and the people they remember. These were gently washed to expel any contaminants and debris from the brown water; the internal cushion was replaced, and a new fabric backing was added to eliminate any areas of decay or moisture retention.
“There are different conservation methods of strengthening the fabric, invisible ways now, which is wonderful. It’s keeping things looking authentic and with integrity, but also strengthening and reconditioning for the future, so that they continue to thrive in the environment they were in,” Mr Bull comments.
The happy outcome at St Peter’s was that, after conservation work on the church itself, all the salvaged and restored items were returned into their original places. The church’s doors reopened in August 2020, allowing the local community to gather once again. A private service was held at the end of the month to celebrate those who had worked and volunteered to clean and repair the church.
HARD decisions sometimes have to be made after a significant loss, and economics can be one determinant of what degree of restoration is going to be possible or desirable. Mr Bull recalls a quandary about memorial plaques which was faced at a church that had suffered significant fire damage. Some had been quite badly damaged, but all were significant.
Fine Art Restoration CompanyMonks from Farnborough Abbey view an altarpiece after Rubens during the restoration process
“They were unable to be fully restored, but they were able to be significantly improved: more what I would call conservation rather than restoration,” he said. “They carry the damage as part of their story. It’s a historical event when something bad like that happens, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that we need to get it back to a state where we pretend it never happened.”
The team has recently encountered a mystery very close to home, in St Mary’s, Wreay. The church was designed and built in 1842 by Sarah Losh, an English architect from a prominent Cumberland family, described by Simon Jenkins in his England’s Thousand Best Churches as “an individual genius, a Charlotte Brontë of wood and stone”.
Her portrait hangs in the church and had fallen into disrepair. The Friends of St Mary’s Church contacted the team about the painting, which had been passed down from generation to generation. As custodians of the church, they wanted to tell its story.
But original research carried out before the company embarked on the project brought the revelation that the painting was not, in fact, the architect and benefactress, but a woman of the same name, married to a cousin of Sara Losh. During the cleaning process, it had become obvious that the woman was wearing a wedding ring, but the architect was known not to have married. Further research revealed that the dress that she was wearing was from a different period.
It is believed to be the only portrait of the sitter, and was considered an important historical document that needed to be cared for. Tears in the canvas had made it unstable, and the lining of the canvas had also started to come apart. The layers were delaminating, owing to the environment in which it had been for many years, necessitating a full realignment with new conservation-grade canvas.
A surface clean and varnish removal eliminated both historic contamination and the high shine of the original varnish — a distraction from the artwork itself, because of the strong reflection of light sources. This was replaced with a softer UV-protective and non-yellowing finish.
A specialist treatment was used to secure the paint layer. Some areas of the canvas were open to the elements, owing to the tear, putting them at high risk from exposure, and these were filled to level out the surface. The tears underwent a thread-by-thread restoration before being retouched with the exact pigments, mixed and applied by a conservator.
“Objects deteriorate from the moment they’re made and will need some sort of care or conservation as they age. We can’t stop them ageing, but we can prolong their life and try to keep them in as good a condition as possible for as long as possible,” Mr Bull observes.
The frame was also restored, and the gilding colour was matched to the original shade of gold. When the work was completed, a Lake District landscape was revealed behind the sitter. A signature in the bottom right-hand corner was also found. That name can now be researched.
THE company’s work encompasses a wide range of projects. Work in progress currently includes the restoration of paintings damaged in a hurricane in Florida; the removal of two granite statues attached to a building in the City of London which is being demolished; furniture from Northern Ireland being restored; and work on cracked miniature portraits belonging to a collector, and on broken ceramics long retained in a family collection.
“To see a broken plate or cup that was smashed into 30 pieces seamlessly restored is really quite amazing. You almost don’t believe it sometimes,” Mr Bull observes.
The company is especially known for its conservation of street art, notably Banksy. “They’re really interesting just because they’re so contemporary and relevant to what’s going on in the art world today,” he says.
“They present so many interesting challenges, because when Banksy is creating these artworks, he’s creating them to be quite transient. He has only one interest: creating artwork to generate publicity. He’s not interested in any of this long-term preservation or sustainability, but, as soon as he creates one, everybody wants to preserve it.
“They’re often on really inappropriate surfaces: damp old walls or a rusty piece of metal. Whatever it is, it’s quite difficult to treat. We usually come across flaking paint and damage created by either a kind of intentional vandalism or just because everybody wants to get close to them and look at them.
“We did a big job in London for Westminster City Council, where we had to clear milkshake that someone had accidentally dropped down a Banksy. . .”
All in a day’s work.
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