Week Seven: Cleaning the Bishop's Face

Hello to everybody! This last week I have been dealing with the problems related to the cleaning of the head area. The face of the Bishop is the focal point of the painting: he is the main figure and he is also right in the center of the composition.
	To help us determine the condition of a painting we can use different techniques. One of them, and a very useful one, is looking at a painting under ultraviolet light. Under this type of light, later added paint that is not original appear like dark stains. We can see that there are retouches on the cheek on the right, on the forehead and on the chin.
	Also, photographs kept at the museum archives can be very helpful. This photograph was taken in 1946, when the painting was going through a restoration process. The image was taken after the cleaning stage and before any retouching was done. This is what we will find if the retouches that are now on top are removed: a very abraded area of original paint.
	Indeed, the varnish layer has been removed on the bottom left corner of the neck, and the poor condition of the paint layer in this area can be appreciated.
We are faced here with an ethical dilemma. On one hand, if the face is left uncleaned, we know for sure that non-original paint is covering the original paint. On the other hand, if the retouches are removed, we will find an abraded surface that will need retouching again, quite possibly to the same extend than the present one. The conservation staff met and the decision was made to leave the face un-cleaned for now, since we feel it looks acceptable even in its restored state. Once the rest of the painting has been cleaned, the balance of the whole painting will have to be reassessed to see if this option is still sensible. Thank you very much for your attention, and see you soon!

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