1 The Service de Restauration des Musées de France, currently under the direction of chief
curators France Dijoud and Nathalie Volle, is the result of the merging in 1993 of the Service
de Restauration des Musées Nationaux and the Service de Restauration des Musées Classés et
Contrôlés (the state-controlled museums’ conservation department). Its function is to restore
the collections of the museums of France; work is performed in the studios of the Petite
Ecurie du Roy at Versailles, in the workshop of the Louvre Museum, and in specialized
regional workshops.
2 These studies were initiated by chief curator René Guilly, who was then in charge of the
Service de Restauration des Musées Classés et Contrôlés, with the collaboration of France
Dijoud; the studies were carried out by Jean de Leeuw, who was in charge of research at
the CTB.
3 Twelve panels, 800 3900 3 8 mm thick, composed of four to eight boards sawn in
different ways.
4 Alayer of sizing (a solution of 10% rabbit-skin glue in water); eight layers of ground (blanc de
meudon[natural calcium carbonate] and rabbit-skin glue); one layer of yellow ochre diluted
with turpentine; one final layer of Rembrandt varnish.
5 Originally, the twelve sample panels were placed for forty-nine days at 25 °C and 30% RH, then
for thirty-six days at 25 °C and 65% RH. Next, four panels representative of the twelve were
subjected to five seven-day cycles of aging at 25 °C and 30% RH, then seven days at 25 °C and
65% RH; they were then stabilized for thirty-six days at 25 °C and 30% RH. During these two
periods, the masses, widths, and cambers of the panels were systematically recorded.
6 After the five cycles of aging at 30% RH, this residual distortion was from 17 mm to 21 mm
for slab-cut panels and 18 mm for panels cut on the quarter; at 65% RH it was from 5 mm to
6 mm for slab-cut panels and 1 mm for panels cut on the quarter.
7 Saran F-310, made by Dow Chemical, which is a copolymer of acrylonitril and poly-
vinylidene chloride.
8 Poplar, 120 mm wide with the grain of the wood, from 290 mm to 450 mm long and 45 mm
thick, painted on one side with the technique described above (n. 4); the angle of the grooves
was systemically varied (60oor 90o), as was their depth (the tip is at 3 mm or 13 mm from the
paint layer) and the conversion of the wood of the inlays, which were glued with vinyl glue.
9 Originally the test pieces were subjected to four long cycles (twenty-eight days at 25 °C and
30% RH, twenty-eight days at 20 °C and 65% RH, twenty-one days at 25 °C and 85% RH,
twenty-eight days at 25 °C and 30% RH), then four shorter cycles (fourteen days at 25 °C and
85% RH and fourteen days at 25 °C and 30% RH); the masses and the cambers were regularly
recorded; visual observation was simultaneously carried out to detect ungluing, splits, and
craquelures in the paint layer.
10 Thinned to 3 mm.
11 Panel F-Ciba board, composed of an aluminum honeycombed laminate faced with fiberg lass
impregnated with epoxy resin.
12 Hexachlorocyclohexane, a fungicide and insecticide product.
13 Synthetic pyrethrinoid. Compare Gérard 1988.
14 Supervised by Marie-Odile Kleitz, research engineer and head of the preventive conserva-
tion department.
15 Unlike the tenon, the false tenon is a piece of wood set into mortises hollowed into both
edges of the boards that are to be fitted together.
16 Master Model Paste SV/HV 427, made by Ciba-Geigy; compare Grattan and Barclay 1988.
17 Two mm thick, composed of three sheets of birch.
18 The atmosphere of the microclimate box is controlled with silica gel; the box was devised by
Marie-Odile Kleitz.Notes
262 Bret, Jaunard, and Mandron