Week Five: Cleaning the Donor

Hi, it's nice to see you again. Last week I worked on cleaning the donor figure. This painting has a lot of damage all along the bottom edge, which might be due to past water damage. In fact, half the figure of the donor, from his waist down, is not original. Also, this figure is painted on an area where two planks of wood are joined together. Originally the whole surface of the painting would have been flat and smooth. However, due to slight movements of the wooden support, original paint has been lost along this join.
	This loss goes right across the face of the donor, meaning that the eye on the right is not original but retouched. Old retouching does not always need to be removed. In this case, the eye on the right matches quite well with the original eye on the left. Moreover it does not cover original paint layer.
	Therefore, it was decided to remove the discolored areas of old retouching, but to leave the eye on the right.
Next week I will look at the cleaning of the gilded areas, which tend to be very sensitive. Thanks for logging in and see you soon.
	After cleaning (on the right), the real damaged condition of the figure can be observed.

Page 6 of 9 | On the next page: Week Six: Cleaning Gilded Areas