Landscape with birches
Technique: Oil painting on canvas
Dimensions: 23,2 cm x 39,5 cm
Date: Second half of the 19thcentury
Condition of the Artwork Before Restoration
The painting is unmounted, without a stretcher or strainer. The paint layer exhibits extensive craquelure across the entire surface, accompanied by significant losses of both the paint and ground layers. In several areas, the paint and ground layers have flaked and detached completely. The upper section of the painting, particularly the sky, is the most severely affected, with only isolated fragments of the original layers remaining. The surface is further obscured by accumulated dirt and a discoloured, degraded varnish layer.
Condition of the Artwork After Restoration
The treatment began with the consolidation of flaking and loose paint and ground layers, securing the fragile areas and preventing further loss. The front and reverse of the canvas were then carefully cleaned, with accumulated and ingrained grime reduced using solvent gels.
A new stretcher was constructed, and the canvas was correctly positioned and installed on the new support. Areas of loss were filled and reconstructed, with the surface structure carefully matched to the original texture of the surrounding paint. The losses were then retouched to reintegrate them visually with the original composition. The treatment was completed with the application of a final protective varnish, providing a coherent and balanced surface appearance while preserving the original material.
