Featured "Restoring" an 1870s Seascape

A couple months ago I won an unsigned 1870s 9"x15-1/2" oil seascape on millboard in original gilded frame on Ebay for about $70. The seller apparently found it discarded on the side of a road in upstate NY. While seller was able to touch up the frame, the thick grime on the painting itself rendered it nearly too dark to display. I took it to a conservator who quoted me about $2100 for a clean and varnish.

I had nearly lost hope when I found a fantastic conservation supplier in California. They sell a great conservation guide and a variety of cleaners/conservation equipment. Also watched a bunch of Baumgartner videos on forum members' recommendation. In total I used 3 different conservation cleaners at a variety of strengths and about 200 custom cotton swabs for cleaning. For varnish I used a 3:2 ratio of matte:gloss Regalrez varnish.

While some grime was too tightly bound to the paint, the vast majority did lift off after hours of patience. I erred on the side of caution to avoid lifting up paint. The difference is almost shocking, especially with a clean frame! It feels great to remove over a hundred years of cigarette, coal tar, etc. Note that I don't recommend DIY cleaning valuable antique paintings!

Do you have any cleaning stories?

Some progress pics:

Before (conservator tested the top left):

Top left partially cleaned:

All clean:

Varnished/in frame:

Reverse:

 

Looks good! Nice job!

 

Dramatic difference!

 

@techbiker
Wow, good job!
Can you share your source for the cleaning supplies and how much you spent?
I have an oil painting with some sentimental value that I'd like to clean. (But it wouldn't break my heart too badly if something went wrong.) It spent the 1960s-1970s in the often smoke-filled dining room of my now-deceased godparents. Thankfully, by the 1980s, they'd banned smoking in their house.

EDIT: Did a quick google... did you use gainsboroughproducts? Which kit did you buy?

 

Looks great! The conservator you went to had excessive fees. I would think $400-$500 would be typical. Agreed, working on valuable paintings would not be a good idea.

 

Beautiful result! Well done!

 

Thank you! Yup, I purchased a startup kit from Gainsborough Products. Just went with startup-kit #4 but used the following for this painting:

-Emulsion Cleaner
-Super Emulsion Cleaner
-Kotton Klenser
-Neutralizer
-Synthetic matte varnish
-Synthetic gloss varnish
-Restoration Manual

Gainsborough Products, LLC Oil Painting Restoration and Conservation Supplies Catalog

All-in, after shipping and some extra products for later (extra varnish, canvas patching kit, BEVA solution, etc.) I wound up spending around $230. Should be enough product for 5 of my lower-value grimy paintings though.

Gainsborough has products for varnish removal, canvas damage and loose paint as well. Everything is pretty well explained in the manual. The company also provides great suggestions over the phone. If your painting is just covered with cigarette tar, I imagine the regular Emulsion Cleaner would work well. I'd just recommend reading the manual thoroughly and taking your time. Would be great to see how your painting turns out if you decide to clean it.

P.S. Different colors on the seascape responded differently to different cleaners. Grime in light blue/white areas required dilute Kotton Klenser while red was sensitive even to Emulsion Cleaner. I recommend adding Super Emulsion Cleaner to your purchase because it provides a "middle tier" between Kotton Klenser and regular Emulsion Cleaner. With a bit of practice, cleaning actually became fun. And FYI, these are serious chemicals that can destroy a painting if used without care.

 

Good job!

Much smaller painting, I went full on DIY, I used Q-tips and saliva

 

Thank you. Your great work was actually a big inspiration for me. I tried the saliva method here but this painting was unvarnished and the grime was unfortunately too ingrained... Just curious- was your painting previously varnished?

 

I am curious to know how many hours you spent on this project (including your admirable research), and what you spent on the materials.

 

Time: About 8 hours spent cleaning this painting, 1 hour on prep/varnish, and 6-8 hours on research and material purchases (thanks to the Gainsborough guide and kit). With experience and materials on hand, probably could have shortened the time investment to about 6 hours total. Since this was the first painting I've cleaned, I wanted to take my time and use this as a learning experience for future grimy paintings.

About $50 in materials spent on just this painting.

I hope this helps. P.S. I'd say the varnish makes as much an impact as the cleaning itself.

 

Really, I am not sure, but if I had to guess I would say no.