FINE ART RESTORATION PORTFOLIO

This fabulous pair of oil portraits were brought to Kathryn Rutherford at the Heirloom Art Studio for cleaning and restoration.
The client knew very little about these ancestors or the artist who captured their likeness for posterity.
Beyond some basic history for the enlightenment of the client, it is not customary for us to do extensive research on the projects we take in. These portraits, however, just led us to more and more interesting information and it was an adventure to keep looking in an effort to solve the mystery of the work and the artist who created it.

Under layers of dirt, it was discovered that both paintings were hand written on the back. The inscription, presumably made by the artist, was written in German, but, named the subject of each painting, gave the age of each person in the portraits, the signature and job title of the artist and the year the work was painted.

Immediate research led to a Czech artist with quite a famous reputation. Wasn't it a stroke of luck that, Kathryn Rutherford, the artisan now restoring these magnificent works of art, could read and translate German and Czech.
Not only did we learn about the artist, but, made contact with a Canadian Art Gallery owner of the same name who also originated from the Czech Republic. She could not confirm that this artist was positively part of her ancestry, but, did, on her next visit to Prague supply us with additional information and research on the artist.
To date, there is a partially complete list of this artist's work.
It is yet undetermined if these paintings can be added to that list of known original
Hochelber Portraits.

The portraits were covered with aged varnish and years of oils and dirt.

Each portrait had long ago been taken off the wooded stretcher frames and stored flat, HOWEVER....
At some point each one had been folded and creased all across the works about six inches from the bottom. After removing all of the dirt and varnish, it was then discovered that someone from the past had attempted a repair of the work. It was a sad, poor attempt to say the very least.
The folded and damaged sections of the painting surface had been filled with some type of tar-like material. As this material was dark, the well-meaning person had then painted over the cracks and damage in an attempt to hide the dark material used to fill in the cracks. Not only was purple and black used to cover the bottom sections of both paintings and hide all that detail, but, the well meaning restorer had used plastic ACRYLIC paint!!
ARGHHHH!!!

It was an extensive, and time consuming, process to remove the inappropriate materials and get back down to the original oil paint, ground surface or original canvas where necessary.
As you can see by the condition of the paintings when they were brought in, this removal of varnish, tar and dark paint revealed many lovely details in both paintings.
Note the woman's left hand not only now exposed, but, holding a prayer book. The man's sleeve, elbow and cutaway jacket now come to light and the shirt or waist cumberbun underneath it shows embroidery details with a chain hanging across it.

A long, but, loving length of time was spent filling in missing areas of ground and then matching the painted surface to blend with the original artist's work.
These magnificent ancestral portraits were put back on stretcher frames and have since gone home to be with their very happy and proud descendents.

INSCRIPTIONS

Painted in her 69th Year-1830

Painted in the 78th year of his life-1830

F. Hochelber, Painter

This canvas is "torqueing" or bulging in the upper corners. This results when the tension on the
stretcher bars becomes uneven, often because the wooden tension pegs in the back have
become dislodged or, in this case, are missing entirely. Controlling the tension of the canvas
is as important as the humidity and temperature in which the painting is stored or displayed.

ONE OF THE MORE UNIQUE RESTORATION PROJECTS...

As the Patron Saint of the customer's home town, this 110 year old St. Joseph statue was shipped from Italy to Canada. The statue, which stood almost three feet tall, had suffered various forms of damage both from handling over the years and as a result of shipping.

Damage was extensive and complicated. The Christ figure was broken completely away from the rock,
his left hand was broken at the wrist and three fingers were either missing or broken off. Both of St.
Joseph's feet were separating from the ground on which he stood. Present halos were made of coat
hanger wire wrapped with tin foil. The crook (or staff) was missing the top rounded section and silk
lilies were wired around the top of the remaining section. St. Joseph had no thumb on his right hand
and no baby finger on his left. Various cracks, chips and broken sections were found throughout the
statue and, due to changes in humidity and shipping between the two countries, the wooden base
materials had begun to shift, swell and crack. The customer suggested using a hammer to knock the
woods back into place, but, was convinced that this is never a recommended restoration procedure.
The entire piece was covered in a layer of oily grime and dirt from years of neglect.

It was decided that the statue should be encased in glass so as to protect it for future
generations. The customer requested that the base of the statue's misalignment be hidden
instead of attempting to return the altered wood to it's original position. In this manner, the
statue could not only be permanently secured, so as to prevent it from ever being knocked
over, but, the base could be widened to extend beyond the width of the shoulders.

Choosing an Italian, imported picture frame moulding, an ornate base and lid were created while the task
of creating the brass-wrapped, beveled glass walls was subcontracted to a local glass manufacturer.

Upon completion of the work (which took nearly one year), the statue and it's case were delivered to the owner's newly built custom home. A specially designed and lit niche had been worked into the construction where the statue was permanently installed for all to admire, enjoy and worship.