cleats were removed were subsequently filled with shaped oak sections
with their grain in the same direction as that of the panel. Other butterfly
cleats that did not require removal were planed down flush with the
panel’s surface.Difficulties of attaching a support to an irregular surface
After completion of all necessarystructural repairs, the panel still presented
a formidable combination of problems. There were many faults and lines
of weakness. The panel was large and heavy, weighing more than 30 kg,
but in some places it was very thin and its surface totally irregular. It was
essential to provide reinforcement and to restrain the rapid response to
variations in RH by warping, to which the panel was now prone (Fig. 13).
To function properly, the secondary support would have to be in close
contact with the panel surface.
One of the fundamental principles of the support design is that
the calculated flexibility of the battens should not vary from one to394 Marchant
Figure 11
Keirincx-Savery, Death of Orpheus.Detail before
cleaning and restoration, showing a board dis-
join, with two lines of fractures below caused
by small and large butterfly cleats.
Figure 12
Keirincx-Savery,Death ofOrpheus.Detail ofthe
reverse before panel work, showing the cleats
that caused the fractures shown in Figure 11.
Figure 13
Keirincx-Savery, Death of Orpheus.The reverse
after structural conservation.