Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Tempera Painting

Laboratory director Igor B. Permyakov
Telephone: (812) 710-90-57

The Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Tempera Painting was established in 1994. Prior to that date the restoration of tempera paintings was carried out in the Hermitage's Laboratory for Restoration of Easel Paintings. From the very beginning, the new laboratory had such remarkable masters and specialists in the field of Old Russian art and icon painting as F.A. Kalikin, A.M. Malova and S.F. Konenkov. In their work they relied on the traditions of the national school of restoration and they successfully passed on their rich experience to their students. Today the laboratory carefully cherishes the traditional methodologies for conservation of tempera painting. One of these is the methodology for fortifying the paint layer and ground using glue solutions prepared on the basis of glue from the flotation bladders of fish in the sturgeon family.

The staff in the Laboratory for Scientific Restoration of Tempera Painting carry out research and restoration on monuments of Old Russian as well as Western European medieval tempera painting.

In recent years preliminary research on art works to determine the degree of preservation of the original painting has taken on great importance. This includes exposing small sample areas to visual inspection, chemical analysis, X-ray and infra-red analysis.

Traditional methods of cleaning paintings and removing later layers of paint and coatings have given way to exacting work under the microscope. This new approach to restoration is without question labour-intensive, but it makes it possible to remove later painting layer by layer, often without the use of solvents, that is to say, by a "dry" method. The restorers can monitor and control the process of cleaning with confidence while carefully preserving each millimetre of original painting.

The degree of intervention of the restorers in this or that art monument is dictated by the status of its preservation. The guiding principle is the "uniqueness" of each work and the basic task for specialists is to preserve all original paint layers. One may remove later accretions only when there is documentary evidence on the introduction of past alterations; and in these instances, every intervention in the structure of a monument must not affect the original master's paint layer. In areas where paint has been lost, restorers preserve the non-original insertions which are closest to the genuine pigment layer. When recreating lost details, the restorer does the utmost to maintain the aesthetic integrity of the original work and to reduce to a minimum his own influence on the monument.

The tasks of researchers in the laboratory are not restricted to the restoration process. Together with curators, they regularly check the condition of paintings which are either on display or kept in the storerooms and participate in the preparation of exhibitions.

Restoration programmes:

1. Restoration of paintings for the exhibition "Dreams of the Gothic and Renaissance. Sienese painting from the 14th century to the first half of the 16th"

2. Restoration of the painting by Jacopo del Sellaio Sts Francis and Jerome Kneeling Before the Dead Christ and the Russian icon The Theophany

3. Restoration of an icon of The Archangel Michael with Selected Saints

4. Examination and restoration of Domenico Panetti's Portrait of a Woman (Ferrara school), 16th century

5. Restoration of the base of Pedro de Cordoba's painting Madonna with Angels Making Music, 14th century

In the laboratory
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Examination under a microscope
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Working with a microscope
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Routine work at restoration
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Adding colour to an art work
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Saints Francis and Hieronymus kneel before the dead Christ
15th century
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