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Earlier this year Sheffield Museum Friends generously raised over £2000 to support the conservation of Davy United, Blooming and Slabbing Mill (1953) by the much-loved Sheffield artist, Kenneth Steel. That conservation work is now complete – find out more about the difference their generosity has made below.
Lucy Critchlow of Critchlow & Kukkonen Ltd worked on the conservation of this historic painting, with treatment on the frame being completed by the frame conservator, Mike Howden. Below Lucy takes us through the conservation process and shares images of the work in progress.
During consolidation
Consolidation Of the Paint Layer
This involved securing any areas of cracked or raised paint using adhesive on a fine sable brush, and application of a thermostatically controlled spatula at 60°C. This process had to be repeated several times to ensure a good bond was formed.
Removal Of Surface Dirt
A moderate deposit of brownish grey dirt was removed from the surface of the painting using cotton wool swabs and de-mineralised water.
Varnish Removal
Tests were carried out to ascertain the safest and most effective solvent or solvent mixture and method for removing the varnish layers. The patchy blanched and yellowed natural resin varnish layers were removed using cotton wool swabs and a bespoke solvent mixture.
Cleaning Of the Reverse
The reverse of the canvas was cleaned using a Museum Vac and a Dry Cleaning Sponge. A palette knife was used to dislodge debris trapped between the lower stretcher bar and canvas. The stretcher was cleaned with a Chamois leather cloth. The tension of the canvas was also improved by replacing old, poor quality expansion keys with new beechwood keys, as well as adding further keys secured to the stretcher with screws.
Before & After
Before
After
You can now see the newly conserved painting on display in the Gordon Bridge Gallery: Picturing Sheffield at Weston Park Museum.
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