the cabinetmaker Paul Maridat and the reliners A. Pouget and Raymond
Lepage.^12 Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Maridat and
Lepage left the studio, establishing their own business together in 1948
and doing cradling work for the Louvre in 1949^13 before they separated.
Maridat, known as a reliner, moved in 1957 to 21, rue Cassette,
Paris, and did work in 1957 and 1958 for the Campana Collection, indepen-
dent of the studio of the Louvre.^14 Examination by S. Bergeon of the
Campana paintings, which are still in excellent condition, shows that this
work included cradles with slats placed on edge (de chant) or flat (plats),
attached either to panels backed with oak or to a back that had been only
somewhat thinned. Around 1968, Maridat, who by then had moved to 18,
rue Dulac, was doing work for the Château de Versailles.^15
Raymond Lepage established himself at 5, rue Christine, in the
Sixth Arrondissement, between 1963 and 1968. In June 1963 he gave esti-
mates for work on important paintings by David in the Louvre. This work
involved adding dovetail tenons to the portrait Mme Seriziatand straighten-
ing curves on the Portrait de Lenoir. Lepage still followed the old tradition
of inlaid dovetails seen in the system he provided for Clouet’s François I.^16
René Bertin, a specialist in wood, was not really a part of the Chauffrey-
Muller studio but did work for it around 1945. Later, Gilbert Malesset,
who started out with Chauffre y-Muller, also treated wood on his own in
the 1950s (Rostain 1994).
The studio became known as Chauffre y-Muller, Gérant Rostain,
from 1954 to 1975. In its attempts to replace the expertise of Puget, Bertin,
and Maridat, the studio eventually discovered the cabinetmaker Georges
Huot. In November 1957, when the studio was contracted to transfer,
back, and cradle the portrait Clément Marotfor the Louvre,^17 the wooden
support was subcontracted to Huot (Rostain 1994).
In July 1965 the Chauffrey-Muller studio performed another trans-
fer onto wood for the Louvre: La Circoncision,of the Swabian School,
painted in 1480.^18 Anew support that by this time is used by Rostain is
marine-grade plywood with a cradle often made in the Huot studio.
However, transfer from wood onto canvas was still practiced, as seen in
Lorenzo di Credi’s Le Christ et la Madeleine,which R ostain transferred on
24 January 1968.^19
The studio became the Rostain studio in 1975; it was located for
150 years at 17, quai des Grands-Augustins, and is now at 12, rue Gît-le-
coeur. The studio works on the restoration of wooden and canvas sup-
ports as well as treatment of the paint layer. However, for museums it is
authorized to perform work only on canvas supports.
The scope of the studio’s work and the range of interests of its
various managers has earned it premier status for more than a century. It
has achieved an excellent knowledge of the complex and specialized world
of restoration, which eventually led it to advise the Louvre to choose the
fine cabinetmaker Claude Huot for the museum’s own specialized cabinet-
maker studio.The roles of Landry (1840–1848) and Roger Castor
(1953–1957) at the LouvreThe archives indicate that Landry, “reliner at the Louvre,” 47, rue Saint-
Denis, was very active between at least 1839 and 1848.^20 He did many266 Bergeon, Emile-Mâle, Huot, and Baÿ