Alchemy Fine Art Restorers has been busy restoring everything from Moroccan doors to church iconography, but this oil painting was particularly intriguing.
Carl Wilhelm Hubner (1814-70) was a genre painter who met with great success in Holland and America. His paintings are among the permanent collections of several European and American museums. Among his best known works are a series of paintings showing a young seaman returning home. While similar in theme and composition, the paintings vary in the nationality of the sailor and his family. The version Alchemy restored below measures 36″ by 48″ and dates from the last decade of Hubner’s career.
The canvas before repair of the tear or cleaning.
Restoring an Oil Painting and Frame
Restoring an oil painting is hard work! In this assignment, Alchemy owner Kate W0od lined the painting with fresh canvas and bees-wax. She carefully cleaned the canvas and removed old varnish. She removed previous attempts at inpainting and fixed the torn canvas, then covered the tear with reversible inpainting. She also repaired the shattered corner of the frame using the original shards of wood, and re-gilded it. Lastly, she added a UV-protective varnish to the gloriously restored painting and returned the sailor to his home port.
Severe damage to the canvas that needed restoring.
The damaged frame before any restoration work was begun.
“Sailor’s Return” in the process of being cleaned by Kate Wood of Alchemy Fine Art Restorers.
The repaired frame.
Repaired tear with in painting. All of the inpainting done by Alchemy Fine Art Restorers is entirely reversible.
Fully restored.
Carefully padding the painting for delivery to our client.
Restoring an oil painting is one of the most satisfying assignments Alchemy Fine Art Restorer’s can get. Not only is Kate Wood an expert in oil painting, but she gets to meet the most interesting private collectors. This was certainly one of those cases and well worth the time and care it took to rescue this delightful work of art.