The Structural Conservation of Panel Paintings

painting La Vierge d’Autun,or La Vierge du Chancelier Rolin. T his frame was

made of Permali, a very stable Bakelized wood, fitted with an ingenious

system ofcorrugated iron in the groove to ensure a flexib le hold for the

painting.^56 Similarly, shortly before 1955, Castor equipped Antonello da

Messina’s Por trait d’hommeatthe Louvre with crossbars lined with felt

and attached only to the frame. Even as early as 1951, the crossbars for

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisawere similarly shaped to the warp of the

panel, lined with felt, and attached only to the frame, in order to hold the

poplar support without stressing it (Fig. 2).^57

Creation of a specialized cabinetmaker studio

in the Louvre

In 1965 Germain Bazin, who was soon to create the Service de

Restauration des Peintures du Louvre,^58 realized the need for a cabinet-

maker specializing in wood supports at the Louvre, particularly for the

important restoration program of the Campana Collection, consisting of

more than three hundred Italian primitive paintings on poplar (de Loye

1976; Kjellberg 1976). Soon after meeting cabinetmaker Claude Huot,

Bazin established the Louvre’s first such specialized cabinetmaker studio,

and Huot then turned his attention to paintings belonging to the state.^59

From January 1962 until the beginning of his work for the

Louvre, Claude Huot had been manager of the studio established by his

father, Georges Huot. Founded in September 1939 at 24, rue St.-Lazare,

the Huot studio had specialized in the restoration ofeighteenth-century

furniture. In October 1941 it moved to 26 and 28, rue St.-Lazare, and the

building at number 24 became a storehouse of old wood needed for

restoration. In July 1945 René Perche, a compagnon(an artisan who has

completed apprenticeship but is not yet a “master”) cabinetmaker trained

in Brittany, brought his exceptional ability to the studio, where he

remained until he retired in January 1977.

Restoration of Painted

Panels after 1965

W P S: T H Y  H  F 273

Figure 2
Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa,ca. 1503–5.
Reverse. Oil on panel, 77 3 53 cm. Louvre
Museum, Paris. Adovetail tenon inlaid in the
panel at the top was an early stabilization of a
split. A flexible frame is made of attached
crossbars designed to follow the warp of the
panel and lined with felt. The original panel is
made ofa single poplar board.