Sylvia Krauss Paintings Conservation

22/12/2024

Just an impression of the work that has been going on throughout the year - without further comment - various before and after treatment images. All treatments carried out during 2024 - and that's just a selection...

16/10/2024

Little update on my previous post - the painting during and after removal of aged varnish and discoloured old retouching. As was expected quite some old danage and wear was uncovered - but a lot of colour and detail too.

25/05/2024

The latest arrival in my studio, 'The Tournament', by Charles Cranmer, painted 1841 and in the ownership of Forres Heritage Trust. "The painting depicts a scene in Sir Thomas Dick Lauder’s book The Wolf of Badenoch during the reign of Robert II (1371 – 1390) whose son-in-law, the Earl of Moray, held a tourney at St John’s Mead on the banks of the River Findhorn close to Darnaway Castle". Removal of the layers of darkened varnish will uncover the original tonal values of the painting. Let's hope there won't be too many old damages as yet undetectable below the aged varnish....

24/02/2024

A brief appearance of my hands removing facing tissue after carrying out an on site lining when recently helping Karen Dundas with a project at Knockderry Castle. I thoroughly enjoyed the company and change of scene to my usual work in my studio. What a brave and fascinating restoration project to transform the castle into a home.
A brief appearance of my hands removing facing tissue after carrying out an on site lining when recently helping Karen Dundas with a project at Knockderry Castle. I thoroughly enjoyed the company and change of scene to my usual work in my studio. What a brave and fascinating restoration project to transform the castle into a home.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C2nBNIltQrI/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

16/12/2023

It must be getting close now - finally got the old family Christmas baubles up again. - A very Happy Christmas to everybody XX

25/09/2022

Last week I attended a five day workshop lead by Chris Stavroudis learning about and testing the Modular Cleaning Program, an off-shoot of the work of Richard Wolbers and the Gels Cleaning Project at the Getty Conservation Institute. It was intense, extremely interesting and left us all keen to get back to our respective workplaces to put the learned material into practice where appropriate.

07/08/2022

Not a post about my own work this time, but a recommendation from business to business. If you are a conservator, you likely have a natural obsession with all kinds of brushes, which is what brought me to the Kelvin Apothecary in the first instance. One can also find all sorts of lovingly selected hand crafted bits and pieces for the household as well as beautiful gifts. Well worth a visit, coming back for more and please do spread the word.
https://www.facebook.com/KelvinApothecaryStore

Handmade soap & candles; sustainable gifts, fashion & homewares. Based in Glasgow's West End.

31/05/2022

The joys of working on contemporary art... I almost felt like I needed sunglasses to finish retouching.

02/10/2021

„Achtung! Kunst“ Warning - implicit content... This definitely was not my everyday type of painting to be restored! Nevertheless - or maybe especially because of that - I did come to really like it. After getting over the first shock, I found out that it is actually a copy after a drawing by Henry Fuseli from 1809 (now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum). The painting was carried out on a re-used canvas. On top of a regular varnish, it was covered with a thick layer of animal skin glue. There was much tension and much micro-lifting paint. The inscription on the back states the date 1820. To confirm if this could be a genuine piece of Victorian erotica or rather a later copy made to look old I would have needed more time.

22/09/2021

Earlier this year I had the pleasure to carry out some restoration and preventive care on this lovely portrait of Lorna Forbes-Leith by De Laszlo. The main work was however done by my colleague Sophie Kostin on the frame. The painting is now on display at the National Trust for Scotland's Fyvie Castle. The video of the treatment in my studio was done by James Gibson.
https://www.facebook.com/NationalTrustforScotland/videos/816573472352595

29/11/2020

This is one of the things that make my work really exciting to me: I recently examined a painting by Glasgow Boy E A Hornel. On a few spots some newsprint was attached onto the surface, suggesting the painting had been wrapped in newspaper whilst the surface was still wet. Close examination under microscope and UV light revealed that this was however not done after the painting was finished but sometime during the process of painting it. The newsprint is covered by a varnish and on top of that varnish are finishing touches of highlights to the painting. The painting was apparently put to rest under newspaper for a while by the artist himself before taking it out of storage again, applying a varnish possibly to freshen up the paint that was already on there and then finishing with additional highlights. Being able to see this kind of evidence of the artist at work just makes my day.