M
and display requirements can be
achieved with conventional methods of framing and retention,
but occasionally a difficult problem will arise in which recog-
nized methods of support are inadequate. This article documents the
development of an alternative approach to some of the more difficult
problems encountered in the support of weak or responsive panels.Description
One such problem occurred in 1989 with the conservation of a large
sixteenth-century Flemish panel. The painting, measuring 1.2 3 1.7 m,
consisted of six oak boards joined horizontally. It had been thinned to
between 6 mm and 8 mm and had a late-nineteenth-century heavy pine
cradle attached, constructed from nine fixed horizontal members, each
measuring 50 mm wide 3 25 mm thick, and six vertical sliding battens,
each 60 mm wide 3 15 mm thick.
As with so many cradles of this period, the device exhibited good
workmanship but was intended to flatten the panel. Because the cradle
was of a rigid construction with minimum tolerances allowed for move-
ment of the sliding battens, it was potentially damaging. Subsequent to
the cradle’s installation, variations in environmental conditions caused the
panel’s moisture content, and hence its curvature, to alter. The cradle
could only accommodate a small change in the panel’s warp before the
battens became locked, preventing further movement. Stresses then devel-
oped, causing fracturing and partial disjoins to occur in a number of places
on the panel. An assessment of the condition of the painted surface
showed that many of the structural faults had produced corresponding
damages to the ground and paint layers.
When the panel arrived for treatment, its profile viewed from
the front was concave, and the cradle was totally seized. The panel paint-
ing was in very poor structural condition and the concern was that it
would deteriorate further. It was considered that just freeing the sliding
elements of the cradle would not provide an adequate solution to many
ofthe problems. Therefore, it was decided that removal of the cradle
was necessary to complete the repairs satisfactorily, as well as to ensure
future stability.First Case Study
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Raymond Marchant