Friday, January 11, 2013

Art Restoration

Henninger's recently finished the restoration of one Station of the Cross for Mary Queen of Peace Church in Cleveland.  Rev. Doug Brown approached Henninger's for the restoration of this century-old piece of art.  It is an oil painting on a copper sheet.

14th Station before restoration
The paint had flaked off considerably in the blue background, exposing the copper.  The entire Station was covered with a layer of dust and smoke from the years it hung in the church.

Anna Drewes, an artist specializing in conservation and restoration, took on the project.  The goal in art restoration is to keep as much of the original artwork as possible conserve what is still present in the piece.  Anna was successful in this regard.

She was able to remove the smoke build-up in the figures and foreground, then seal over those areas.  The areas that had flaked off in the blue background were first filled in, then inpaint those areas to match the rest of the blue area.

14th Station - smoke damage removed, filled in areas of flaking

After the inpainting was complete, a final varnish was applied.  The finished result is amazing.  Anna was able to bring new life to this gorgeous true piece of art.

14th Station after restoration