The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings

isfilled with critical commentaries citing differences among national

methodologies and attitudes in restoration, such as the case of Palmaroli.

Köster’s booklet is full of insinuations regarding the “Italian methods.”

Beyond this international level in conservation and restoration

exists a level of national and regional tradition—and perhaps even an addi-

tional level, defined by particular museums or individuals. These different

levels are reflected in the various traditions of cradling panel paintings.

Other, more accurate historical sources are the unpublished and

published reports about particular restoration treatments, as well as the

larger reports about collections management. In earlier times, such refer-

ences were usually very short and lacked detail, but in certain archives

there are documents with more complete information. The well-known

official report of the transfer of Raphael’s Madonna di Folignoin Paris by

Louis Hacquin in 1799–1800 was finally translated into German (Hertel

1853:14; see also Schaible 1983:122). Archival documents also provide

some useful information about the 1867 conservation treatment of the

Solothurn Madonnaby Hans Holbein the Younger (Brachert 1972:6–22;

Griener 1993:104–20). Some museum catalogues also provide useful infor-

mation about previous treatments of objects (Zehnder 1990).

Recent studies of restorers and their activities are also helpful;

these include research on Christian Friedrich Köster (Rudi 1996), Jacob

Schlesinger (Schiessl 1990), Andreas Eigner (Vogelsang 1985), and

J. A. Ramboux (Vey 1966; Mandt 1987–88), as well on Alois Hauser Jr.,

former restorer in Munich (Mandt 1995).

Field research, including a consistent collection of data about pre-

vious treatments, rarely exists. An exception is the unpublished diploma

thesis of Werner Koch on the support treatments of panel paintings at the

Kunsthalle Karlsruhe (Koch 1981).

The development of technological literature concerning panel

paintings and their materials has an interesting history. Almost all books

on painting techniques address the qualities of wooden supports and their

preparation (Schiessl 1989:9–10). Theodor von Frimmel, an art historian in

Vienna, addressed the character, wood species, and conservation treatment

ofwooden supports for panel paintings in Gemäldekunde(von F rimmel

1894). The scientist Franz von Frimmel published a study about examina-

tions of wood species of painting supports (von Frimmel 1913–15).

Alexander Eibner, professor of chemistry at the Institute for Technology

ofPainting at the Technical University of Munich and corresponding

member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, wrote many important

texts about the development and materials of painting, among them a

1928 publication that described the history of wooden supports and the

influence of some supports on the degradation of the paint layer. Many

publications on types and qualities of wooden supports for artists may

be found in the Technische Mitteilungen für Malerei.New boards such as

Masonite, plywood (Laue 1891; Hengst 1940), and particleboard were first

recommended as new supports for use by artists but were soon used as

backings for wooden panels.

Within the context of this article, there is no place to describe the situa-

tion in private collections and museums in the eighteenth and the nine-

teenth centuries. The heads of the galleries were usually painters and

Historical Evolution of

the Profession

202 Schiessl