Part 16

To completely transfer the painting, gum over its surface two coats of soft paper. Lay it on the face, and carefully remove the old canvas ground. This is effected by wetting every thread till soft, and then picking it away. A piece of pumice-stone and tweezers are also used. When all fibres are removed, carefully glue a canvas and apply it, pressing it well on the back of the paint. Before it is quite dry, press the picture with a warm flat-iron, not too hot. Then remove the paper carefully with a damp sponge and by tearing.

To transfer a picture on wood, the back is sawn into many small triangles or squares, which are carefully chiselled away one by one. Then with files and scrapers approach the paint till only a thin film of wood remains. The last remnant is wetted with a sponge, and picked or scraped away. First, use paper on the face and restore as before.

There is a great enemy to pictures in mould or mildew, which has quasi-equivalents in must, dry-rot, _mucor_, or _robigo_. It is divided by Goupil into apparent softening and actual softening or mildew. The former is mildew or mere superficial mould; _i.e._, a light vegetation which gathers on the surface from germs in the air. It can easily be wiped away, and is caused by dampness. Sometimes, when long rooted, it destroys the varnish, which must be replaced. There is also a mould which is properly decay, or a radical destruction of fabric, for which there is, in fact, no cure, save in renewing the canvas and retouching the picture.

Where a picture is painted by glazing, especially where varnish comes in instead of body, it is apt to crack or thread like a cobweb. In time these divisions will scale off in flakes. Wax dissolved in turpentine is used for the light cracks. Scaling must be treated by careful softening with oil and pressing down a warm iron. The surface must, previous to ironing, be covered with chalked paper.

It sometimes happens that a picture has been painted over, and I have seen a very distinguished restorer in such case succeed in removing the outer coat. This requires great knowledge of the chemical properties of the paint; also of solvents, and the different methods of scraping, absorbing, &c. Still, it can be learned with patience. Extraordinary results have been thus obtained. It has often happened that men with little or no knowledge of painting have fancied themselves capable of “repairing” very valuable pictures, and so smeared them over to utter ruin.

Before attempting to retouch an old picture, let the restorer make a copy of it. If he can do this very well he is qualified for his work, and not otherwise. The fraternity of picture-cleaners and menders may protest against this; but the vast amount--I may say the vast proportion, meaning the majority--of good pictures spoiled by bad retouching confirms the truth of my assertion.

It is worth remarking in this connection that very few amateurs, æsthetes, or “connoisseurs,” so called, appreciate the value of mere _technique_ or practical work in art. They “swarm for the ideal,” and that is all. The great masters were wiser than this. It would do much good if very generous prizes on a large scale were to be paid annually for copies of great pictures. And I would have rewards given specially for pictures painted with colours prepared by the artists themselves from chemically pure and unalterable materials, according to the ancient recipes. I would like to see a society formed of artists who would produce such work. It would certainly find buyers--in time.

There are to be found in most curiosity shops in Italy panel pictures of the fourteenth century, earlier or later, with gold grounds, which can be had of all prices, from a very few francs upward. They are without name and of no great artistic merit, but very curious and interesting indeed as ancient relics painted “before oil,” and as inspired with the spirit of the Middle Ages. These generally require restoration. They were painted on wood of all kinds, very often on deal. The surface was covered with a thin coat of gesso or plaster of Paris, mixed with the white of egg, and on this the gilding and paint were applied. The latter was in white of egg and fig-juice, or encaustic--that is, wax and white of egg, which is the most ancient and durable method known; so much so that long after every oil-painting ever executed (if left to itself) will have disappeared, the ancient Egyptian, Roman, or Middle Ages pictures will be as fresh as if made yesterday.

If a panel be warped or bent, it is straightened by damping the concave side, and screwing to it crosspieces. If the ground be scaled away, supply it with powdered plaster of Paris mixed with gum-water. The repainting can be executed with water-colours mixed with white of egg, _gouache_, or even oil in small quantities, which should be rather rubbed in or glazed than painted in body.

A common panel picture of the fourteenth and fifteenth century, painted with white of egg, can be well enough restored with water-colour, or _gouache_, and then varnished. But the colour with _gouache_ medium will not _hold_ well, except on the gesso-ground. It is apt to scale off from any smooth, hard surface. Therefore it is difficult to restore them by painting on the old hard glaze. Most of the mediums which are sold to heighten water-colours--_e.g._, Winsor & Newton’s glass medium--will cause the colour to adhere.

A GROUND FOR WAX-PAINTING ON POROUS SUBSTANCES was made as follows:--

White wax 10 Resin 5 Essence of turpentine 40

Melt the wax in a _bain-marie_, pass the solution through a linen strainer, and lay it on in successive coats on a wall which is first heated by a hand-furnace or brazier. To close holes in the wall use a putty made of wax, gum-animé, resin, and whiting.

Colours are prepared for wax-painting by grinding them with a gluten. They are the same in substance as those mixed with oil for oil-painting. The gluten is made as follows:--

Resin 1 White wax 4 Essence of spikenard 16

A harder gluten can be made by substituting copal for the gum-animé.

There is a vast field for profitable labour in the cleaning and restoration of old pictures, as well as of antiques of all kinds, and thousands of young or even elder artists, whose life is a painful struggle towards becoming known, would do well to endeavour to raise the art of restoration to its proper place, instead of being ashamed to descend to it.

The restorer should make a point of studying _varnishes, oils, and colours_, with great care. Let him read what cyclopædia articles and books he can find on these subjects, and make all practical inquiries from manufacturers and dealers. He should, if he intends to seriously practise the art, study chemistry. I can imagine no better restorer than a skilful analyst. There is a great deal yet to be learned regarding colours, and most of it will come by the way of chemistry. A great deal is, however, actually being revived or arriving as new from training “the popular eye” to hitherto unaccustomed shades, tints, and tones. During the Middle Ages, when culture was exhausted in art and decoration, there was a marvellous development in this respect, even in most delicate details, though much of it now seems so “loud” or excessive to us. We have of late years learned a great deal from China and Japan as regards subdued colours. It may be that as in Oriental music even the tenth part of a note becomes as distinct to the practised ear as a natural one, so these blendings and subdivisions of hues may be as perceptible to people as the normal colours. All of this should be carefully studied by the restorer as well as the painter.

The restoration of a fine work of art which has become utterly dim, wrinkled with a thousand lines, and, it may be, utterly ugly to beauty and freshness, is so much like a resurrection or transfiguration to new life, youth, and beauty, that poets have not failed to use it as a simile for all that is expressive of renaissance. Thus Dean Hole, in his Memoirs, remarks that, “as when some beautiful picture which has been concealed and forgotten, removed in time of battle lest it should be destroyed by the enemy, is found after many years, and is carefully cleaned and skilfully restored, and the eye is delighted with the successive development of colour and of form, and the life-like countenance, the historical scene, the sunny landscape, or the moonlit sea come out once more upon the canvas; so in that great revival of religion which began in England more than half a century ago the glorious truths of the Gospel were restored.” Regarded in itself, the art of restoring beauty is both beautiful and noble, and deserves to be regarded as such.

GENERAL RECIPES

RECIPE.--_The word. A formula or prescription is a_ recipe, _derived from the Latin word_ recipe, _meaning take. An acknowledgment of money paid is a_ receipt_, from_ receptus, _or received. A description of the materials to be used in making a pie is not a_ receipt, _but a_ recipe.--Familiar Errors.

TO CLEAN WOOLLEN CLOTH.--Rub it with sal-ammoniac and water till clean, then wash with pure water. This liquid is very useful, when any article of clothing has been stained by vinegar, wine, or lemon, to restore the original colour.

An old-fashioned but excellent method of cleaning greased silk ribbons or cloth is as follows:--Lay the ribbon on a wad or flat surface of cotton wadding, strew on this dried clay, or calcined magnesia, or whiting, and over this another layer of wadding. Pass over it a flat-iron not too warm. The oil or grease will be absorbed into the cotton. Repeat this till the cure is effected. If any spots still remain, paint them with yolk of egg, dry the stuff in a draught of air, and when quite hardened remove the yoke and wash with water.

WINE-STAINS can be removed by simply _pressing_ on them pads dampened with cold water. This method will succeed, when wiping only spreads a stain. Salt alone is also employed.

“When a lady’s skirt of any material has had spilt on it gravy, wine, oil, or any _light liquid_, as distinguished from such substances as paint, pitch, or tar, do not attempt, as is usually the case, to wipe or wash it clean. Lay a linen sheet or even spongy white paper--wanting this, newspapers may be used--on a table; on this spread the soiled fabric very evenly. Then lay on the upper surface another clean white sheet, or white muslin cloth, or napkins or towels, and press on it till as much as possible of the fluid is sucked out. By changing the white cloths or paper, and pressing continually, the fabric can be very nearly cleaned. Then dust it well with calcined magnesia in powder or whiting. Where these cannot be had chalk will answer. This will generally absorb all that remains of the grease.”--_Notes by a Housekeeper (MS.)._

“Clean, dry blotting-paper laid on grease-stains is admirable for extraction. Apply pressure with a flat-iron or hand-roller such as is used for bread. There are blotting-paper rollers, made for ink, which are quite suitable for cleaning cloth; but the paper should be thrown away the instant it has received any grease; otherwise it will only spread the stain and make it indelible by rubbing it into the fibre of the threads. A good soft sponge will also be found to be almost equal to it.”--_Notes by a Housekeeper (MS.)._

OLD WOOLLEN OR SILK GARMENTS can be very brilliantly renewed in the following manner:--They are steeped in sulphuric cupreous acid (copper or blue vitriol), oxide of lead, or bismuth oxide, or simply with their metallic oxides, and then exposed to steam, mingled with sulphuric acid gas. Another method is to steep the stuffs simply in a solution of sulphuric acid and copper or of oxide of bismuth. This is slowly heated, but the heating must be qualified according to the colour of the stuffs to be revived. The application of these requires great care and some knowledge or experience.

Ink for restoring inscriptions on metal of any kind, silver, zinc, or brass:--To one part of crystallised acetic acid, oxide of copper, one of ammonia, and half a part of soot from fir wood. Mix in a saucer with ten parts of water. This is said to resist exposure to the weather very well.

A VERY VALUABLE AID TO THE RESTORER OR MENDER OF IMPLEMENTS, when it can be obtained, is RAW HIDE. This material dries as hard as any wood and is tougher than any textile fabric. Thus, if a broken wheel or any portion of a vehicle is tied with a thong of raw hide, firmly drawn, when the latter dries, shrinking a little, it holds better than iron. Raw or untanned ox-hide or similar skin, when dried, is in fact similar to parchment, and, like it, resembles horn in hardness. The strongest trunks in the world are made in America from raw hide. This material, when made into small objects, such as flasks, boxes, sheaths, or portable ink-stands, has often withstood the wear of generations. As it is cheap, easily moulded into form, or stamped, it is remarkable that it is no longer used as it once was.

LEAD-PENCIL OR CRAYON DRAWINGS can be preserved from rubbing by a light wash of gum of any kind, diluted varnish, or even milk. The latter is in most cases preferable. It is also preservative of handwriting, and, like all glazes, prevents fading.

BASES FOR BEADS and similar work can be made as follows:--Take mother-of-pearl dust, which can be bought cheaply at a turner’s, powder or levigate it finely, mix it with half its bulk of fine white barley-meal, and make it up with a weak solution of gum-mastic. Also take snail-shells, or the glaze of any large, hard sea-shells, washing them first in strong lye to clean them. Pulverise and make up with yolk of eggs and alum, or any other fine binder. The same can be done with rock-crystal or pure flint. Grind it to finest powder, and make it up with a well-incorporated mixture of the white of eggs and pure gum-arabic. This will, when dry, become hard as a stone, and more and more waterproof with age.

TO PULVERISE GLASS.--First put in the fire till red-hot, then drop it into cold water, after which reduce it in a mortar. Glass-powder thus made, mixed with almost any cement, renders it extremely hard. It is also mixed with paint.

BURNISHED STEEL OR IRON-WORK can be preserved from rusting by rubbing the article with oil of cloves or oil of lavender; also with a mixture of turpentine, oil of lavender or cloves, and petroleum. Mercurial ointment is commonly used for guns.

RUST can be removed from iron by rubbing it with oil of tartar (_oleum tartari_), using a woollen rag.

BRASS-WARE, when it has become dull or rusty, may be renewed and made to look like gold. Take sal-ammoniac, grind it in a mortar with saliva; rub this on the brass; lay it on hot coals to dry it well, and tub it with a woollen cloth. So says JOHANN WALLBERGER; adding: “With this art a certain man did once, in Rome, gain much money, inasmuch as he thereby did clean the brass lamps of the churches and other things of the same metal.” There is another preparation for the same purpose still more gold-like. It consists of sulphur, chalk, and the soot from wood fires. But as it soon disappears, the brass should be lackered or varnished.

THE BEST CLEANER FOR BRASS with which I am acquainted is a German preparation used by BARKENTIN & KRALL, Regent Street, from whom it can also be obtained.

A VERY STRONG CEMENT, and one good for luting, can be made by combining sturgeon’s bladder, dissolved in spirits, with finest pulverised flint or sand.

GLUE, into which resin has been well infused by heat, combined with sand or ashes or clay, forms a strong cement, useful for all kinds of coarse work.

A VERY GOOD, STRONG CEMENT is made as follows:--To three-eighths of a pound of water add three-eighths of a pound of spirits and a quarter of a pound of starch; also, prepare two ounces of good glue in water, mixed with two ounces of thick turpentine, and stir well into the first composition. This is a very good bookbinders’ glue.

THE TUFA OR SOFT STONE which abounds in Italy and elsewhere is much used when reduced to powder and burned for building. It is also useful as a cement. An old writer says it can be brayed in a mortar, but that “there are many who, for lack of a mortar, take old baptismal fonts out of the churches, and in lieu of a pestle use the clapper of a church bell.”

A CURIOUS DECORATION may be made by drawing figures--for example, of animals--with glue or gum on a wall surface, and then powdering it with cloth-dust of appropriate colours. These figures can be stencilled.

As of all repairing and restoring that of _human beauty_ is the most important, it may be worth while to give here a few recipes, which have held their own for centuries:--

TO MAKE WRINKLES AND FRECKLES DISAPPEAR.--This is more possible than is generally supposed, and I have known a lady, a great beauty, of whom all my readers have heard, who at fifty years of age had artificially and miraculously preserved her face in perfect smoothness, though I do not know by what means. The following is given by WALLBERGER:--“Take fine, pure alum, compound it carefully with the fresh white of eggs, and boil it gently in a pipkin, stirring it constantly with a wooden stick or spoon till it forms a soft paste. Spread this on the face, morning and evening, for two or three days, and you will soon see that it is free from wrinkles and freckles, and marvellously fair and pleasant to view. Frivolous souls may carry the sinful misuse of such beauty to their own account; the virtuous hold in horror all such deeds” (_Zauberbuch_, 1760).

LEMON-JUICE or the salts of lemon, or lemon-juice and salt, are of great service in whitening the hands and causing freckles to disappear.

GUM-BENZOIN DISSOLVED IN SPIRITS may be had of every apothecary. Pour a few drops into a wine-glassful of warm water, and it will form a milk-white emulsion, which is a perfect and harmless cosmetic for the face, and serves as a delightful soap in washing. This is the _lac virginis_ so much used two centuries ago.

EAU DE COLOGNE mixed with water forms a white emulsion, which is much superior to any soap for delicate hands. It forms a perfectly harmless cosmetic for the face. Even a few drops of it in a basin of water will have a good result. Too much of it, or of any wash, will have a contrary effect, and dry the skin. If the mouth be rinsed with this emulsion of _eau de cologne_ and water, it will purify the breath, and that for a long time if used as a gargle.

A STRONG MARKING-INK, or black dye, which will resist much exposure to the weather, is made as follows:--Take gum-arabic 10 lbs., logwood liquor (specific gravity 1.37) 20 fluid oz., bi-chromate of potash 2½ oz., with water sufficient to dissolve the bi-chromate. Dissolve the gum in one gallon of water, strain, add the logwood liquor, mix, and let the mixture stand for twenty-four hours; then stir in rapidly the bi-chromate solution, and add a little nitrate of iron and fustic acid. If too thick, thin with lukewarm water.

A VERY HARD CEMENT can be made by digesting fluor spar for some time in sulphuric acid, adding magnesium sulphate and stirring calcined magnesia into the mixture.

A RED CEMENT FOR IRON OR STONE OR LUTING is made of red lead and litharge in equal parts mixed with concentrated glycerine to the consistency of soft putty. When dry it is water and fire proof.

SILICO ENAMEL is a thin liquid glaze, finer than varnish, which is easily applied to all polished metals, as well as other substances. It may be obtained in bottles, price one shilling, with brush, of the Silico Enamel Company, 97 Hampstead Road, London, N.W.

LIGHT-COLOURED GLOVES may be cleaned by rolling bread-crumb over them; also with indiarubber. Also by means of benzine. Several patent washes for this purpose are now sold.

CLEANING MARBLE.--“If ‘Sculptor’ will get some salts of wormwood, and dissolve in warm water, then mix with whiting into a moderate paste, and apply to stone or marble, and let it remain upon either for twenty-four hours--and if not successful the first time, apply again--he will draw all stains out of marble, and clear all lichen either from sandstones or oolitic stones. Thoroughly wash the stone with a strong soap (say, of Hudson’s No. 2 soap powder) and lukewarm water, and, when thoroughly dry, give a coat of sulphuretted oil. He can make his own oil. Boil in a bath one quart of linseed-oil for one hour, with half-a-pound of flower of sulphur gently and continually stirring same; then take off fire and let cool; then pour oil from sediment, using oil upon stone. No lichen will hurt his stone if out exposed to the air, for the rain will wash all clean every time. I have cleaned several statues with nothing but Hudson’s No. 2 and water.”--_Work, April 2, 1892._

CALCINED MAGNESIA, or calcined and powdered bone, laid for some time on simply oiled or greased marble, which has first been well washed with soap and water, will often extract the stain. For ink use oxalic acid in weak solution with water.

GUM-DEXTRINE, or gum substitute, is made from roasted flour. It forms, mixed with water, a gum not much inferior to gum-arabic, for which it is, as the name denotes, a substitute. It is very extensively used in many manufactures, and may be obtained of any chemist. It sometimes happens that it is too brittle after drying, and does not hold. In such case add four or five drops of glycerine to a teacupful of the dextrine in solution.

MOUTH GLUE (MUNDLEIM) OR SOLID CEMENT.--This is sold by stationers in thin, flat sticks or tablets, and is used by wetting and rubbing it, chiefly for paper. It is made as follows for labels:--

Sturgeon’s bladder 25 Sugar 12 Water 36 Carbolic acid

The sturgeon’s bladder is first dissolved, the sugar then added, also a few drops of carbolic acid, which causes it to set more firmly, and also to resist mould in dampness, induced by the presence of sugar. This cement is applicable to glass, wood, or metal. Like the following, it has the advantage of being always ready to use, and requires no boiling. If it becomes too hard to use freely, let so much of it as is required steep for a time in water. Many think, from merely dampening it in the mouth when it is hard, and using it immediately, that it is a very weak adhesive, which is a mistake. A great deal of that sold by the stationers is, however, of very inferior quality, and made with very common glue.

MOUTH GLUE IN TABLETS:--

Transparent glue, No. 1 24 Sugar 13 Gum-arabic 5 Water 50

The glue, sugar, and gum are boiled in the water until a drop let fall on a slab hardens. It is then rolled and cut into flat cakes.

TO MEND OR MAKE MEERSCHAUM PIPES.--Dissolve caseine in silicate of soda; stir into the cement fine calcined magnesia. By the addition of meerschaum powder a close imitation of meerschaum in the mass can be made.

TURKISH CEMENT of the strongest kind, and such as is used to attach gems to metal, is made as follows:--

Sturgeon’s bladder cement 30 Mastic (best) 2 Gum-ammoniac 1 Spirits of wine 10

The sturgeon’s bladder, shredded, is dissolved with spirits of wine while remaining in a warm place; the gum is also dissolved in spirit and mixed with the sturgeon’s bladder; the whole must be then carefully and slowly boiled to a syrup. Close with a cork, as it is sure to gum tightly.

TO IMPROVE CORKS.--When bottles contain substances which adhere to the _cork_ and _harden_, the latter should be first steeped in oil or vaseline, or boiled in a mixture of both.

ARMENIAN CEMENT.--This is much like Diamond and Turkish cements:--