often professors from fine arts academies—simultaneously connoisseurs
and conservators. These gallery inspectors usually executed restoration
work by themselves and supervised restoration work done by others
(Koller 1991:81). Sometimes these inspectors were supervised by a com-
mission, as was done at the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. This Commission
for Restoration Affairs was assigned to the Royal Bavarian Board of
Directors of the Public Galleries until the end of the First World War.
In German regions in Austria and in the German-speaking regions
of Switzerland, the classic distinction between the reliner (in French,
rentoileur; in Italian,foderatore), who was responsible for relining paintings,
and the painter-restorer, who was responsible for aesthetic retouching, did
not exist as it did in other countries—where the person who treated the
wooden support was normally a joiner or a cabinetmaker, and the restora-
tion of the painting itself was the task of the artist painter-restorer.
Köster did not wish to do repair work on wooden supports with-
out the help of a joiner (Köster 1827:14). Almost all the larger museums
had specialized joiners for cradling. Most of the authors of restoration
books advised leaving all practical work—such as planing, sawing, remov-
ing wood, gluing, and cradling—on the wooden support to an experienced
cabinetmaker (Welsch 1834:66). Theodor von Frimmel wrote, “The repair
work on wooden panels is the work of the joiner, it has to be done under
control and on the instructions of the restorer” (von Frimmel 1904:140).^1
Hertel noticed that even the best cabinetmaker should not work immedi-
ately on the wooden support but should gain experience in working
with panels first, after which the cabinetmaker may become a specialized
parqueteur(Hertel 1853:16–19). The tasks of a parqueteur consisted of
flattening and joining broken panels, paneling paintings, joining wooden
strips, r einforcing panels, and cradling (Hertel 1853:16–19). Thus, for all
daily needs in the house, every larger museum had its own cabinetmaker
who could also, if necessary, assume the duties of a parqueteur. Sometimes,
as is reported in an 1828 report from a museum in Cologne, joiners also
worked as museum attendants and guards. An instance of a joiner who
worked as a museum attendant and was also responsible for restoration
work was cited by Vey (1966:46).
Martin wrote that a paintings conservator should possess all the
knowledge a joiner requires to cradle panels or else hire a joiner (Martin
1921:168–69). In the same year, the German restorer Victor Bauer-Bolton
noted that even the facing of the paint layer with paper before treatment
of the reverse was usually executed by a joiner (Bauer-Bolton 1921:39–40).
Voss, however, wrote that the panel painting should first be faced on the
front side by the restorer before it comes into the joiner’s hands, and that
the restorer should instruct the joiner not to subject the panel to too much
heat. In general, a restorer should leave a panel to a joiner only in the
most challenging cases (Voss 1899:70).
Remarks critical of the work of the cabinetmaker first appear in
1952 in a summary of a survey on the treatments of panel painting sup-
ports conducted in twenty-eight conservation laboratories in West German
museums and monument conservation offices. The analysis of this survey,
based on detailed interviews of restorers, was performed by Christian
Wolters and will henceforth be referred to as the Wolters Report. This
reportdiscusses the joiner’s position in panel painting conservation from
a new point of view: “Cradling work should not be done by the joiner.H P P C A, G, S 203