The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings

B   with balsa-wood blocks glued with wax- resin is an uncommon technique rarely used by the Institut Royal ...

ate, balsa wood is an inert material that is not subject to distortion over time. Once the panel is backed, it is resistant but ...

were 1 cm thick. The sawing was done in a transverse direction on end- grain wood in order to obtain elements that were as rigid ...

The panel comes from the museum of the city of Ath, located in a large eighteenth-century house whose rooms are damp and barely ...

gradually increased. At 75% RH the panel was practically flat; it showed some remaining spiral distortion but had gained good fl ...

B  P P: R  C 369 Figure 4 Francken family (attrib.), Adoration of the Magi, reverse. ...

1 Patrick Mandron, from the Service de Restauration des Musées Nationaux; Aubert Gérard, from the Centre Régional de Restauratio ...

371 A   of panel paintings that have been thinned and cradled exhibit damage caused by the cradle or signs of str ...

372 Bobak Figure 1 Representative areas of stress concentration (marked by arrows) in a cradled panel. a b Figure 2a, b Damage c ...

assume the correct functioning of the cradle. In practice, however, many cradles “lock up” (because of inadequate clearance, poo ...

thickness and flexibility is fully explained in Marchant, “Development of a Flexible Attached Auxiliary Support,” herein);^1 or ...

of the timber, irregularities, or damage. No definitive rules can be fol- lowed, but the amount ofmovement a panel is expected t ...

The flexible auxiliary support and tray, in addition to retaining the panel, damp^8 its movement by applying a measured restrain ...

the section entitled “Matching the Support to the Panel,” below.) In all cases the flexibility of the battens and back springs c ...

Central bearing The thickness and area of the central bearing is determined by the maxi- mum curvature expected (Fig. 12a), the ...

tion, they are nevertheless helpful in establishing the broad range of likely forces. Test samples can never represent the exact ...

out of the solid wood. Many panels have a propeller-like twist in addition to any curvature. Such twisting must be carefully con ...

4 Abed may be made from a prepared board that is packed with balsa wood strips of varying size and thickness to support the pane ...

M   and display requirements can be achieved with conventional methods of framing and retention, but occasionall ...

Structural condition When the cradle was removed, the extent of the weaknesses and damage to the panel could be fully appreciate ...