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Restoration of prints for the "Parmigianino across the Centuries and the Arts" exhibition In 2003 the staff of the Laboratory for the Scientific Restoration of Graphic Works (headed by V.A. Kozyreva) carried out a large amount of work to prepare the exhibition to mark the 500th anniversary of the birth of Francesco Parmigianino, a leading exponent of Italian Mannerism. The restorers faced a serious problem. They had to decide how to remove separate prints from two albums in order to show them to the public. The albums, which entered the Hermitage in the late 18th century, possibly from the collection of Count Bruhl, are a collection of engravings by Parmigianino himself or produced from his works. They are of considerable artistic and historical value and are also a splendid example of 18th-century collecting. The storage of works of graphic art in albums is very convenient as it makes it possible to bring together odd items in a single collection. On the other hand, though, such a method of storage makes it possible to display only one work. It was this shortcoming that prompted the necessity to remove sheets from the albums. The prints, executed in the etching, burin and chiaroscuro techniques, are placed on album pages of dense rag paper and glued onto them by a variety of means: by the edge of the sheet, by a strip and sometimes, if the print had already been relined because of its poor state of preservation, it was completely pasted onto the page. Chemical analysis showed that the darkened adhesive was of vegetable origin, which means it is possible to remove it using only local moistening. The restorers involved in this project (V.A. Kozyreva, O.V. Mashneva, K.V. Rudakas, T.A. Sabanina, Ye.F. Tatarnikova and Ye.I. Shashkova) tackled the key problem of how to remove sheets from an album without undoing the stitching in a constructive manner, employing various means of moistening. The etchings printed on thin laid rag paper were removed using moistening from a distance. The album page was carefully sandwiched between two layers of thin Hollytex, followed by Gore-tex and dampened layers of filter paper. The use of Gore-tex made it possible to achieve a gentle moistening and softening of the paper base. The moisture penetrated in the form of vapour and the vegetable glue gradually softened. Separation, carried out using a fine bamboo knife, was achieved without moistening the etching itself. Another difficulty for the restoration of the prints arose from the fact that many of the works in the chiaroscuro technique were larger than the album page and the owners folded them in half, or even quarters, sometimes gluing them along the fold. In those cases the prints were removed from the album page using a special method of steaming with low moistening using a Sisan steam-moisturizer. In this way the majority of the prints were removed with a strong solution of methyl cellulose. The removal of the Parmigianino prints from the albums not only made it possible to put them on temporary exhibition, but also opened up new possibilities for the study of them. The reverse sides bear marks made by the collectors and stamps, while the paper itself contains watermarks. |
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Copyright © 2006 State Hermitage Museum |
