Cleaning oil paintings?

Goo-gone and shellac. That'll fix anything.

You say the works are valuable. If they're closer to a thousand dollars or more, you really should have them professionally restored.

Otherwise:
Be absolutely sure that you're dealing with oil paintings and only oil paintings, and then proceed. These methods will destroy most any other kind of medium.

You can use regular soap and water solution and rags to gently blot the paintings clean. Don't' rub. Don't let the paintings become soaked, merely damp. Go slow and methodically. Think like the people who restored Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine Chapel, and his David. They would have had to answer to the rest of humanity if they f**ked-up. You'll have to answer to your family and those other lives if you do.

For oily build up, which the brown spots seem to be, use alcohol and cotton swabs, or cotton balls. Gently blot, don't rub. Don't use any solvent stronger than alcohol. Go slow and methodically like a pro.

If paint starts to flake, STOP. Hopefully, your screw-up won't be noticed, and your family and those other lives won't disown you.

Varnish them after you've cleaned them and allowed them to dry thoroughly to prevent cracking, or further cracking. Varnish tends to bring out the original brightness of the oil colors. Varnishing by spraying is better than, and preferable to, brushing.

I really think you should use professional help.

I remember that my grandmother's housemaid once cleaned a really dark 'oil'-painting: even 40 years later, you still can see where that happened.

On the other hand: we have a small painting, which was part of an altar: it really looks very diffrent to the times before, quite 'expensive' so-to-say.

hmmm. they are way over $1,000, each. i would not dare to take the responsibility for ruining them. hmmm, i guess i should try talking my parents into having them cleaned professionally. i tried a damp cloth on one of them, one with a white rim around. it came off nicely, but am still worried. one i know is not oil, that one i ain't touching. then there are other three, about 2X2 meters each, maybe more. maybe i should give up.

hmm, when you say varnish, infra, is it some special varnish for oil paintings?

I wouldn't know how to clean the paintings, but I know my grandmother once had a similar problem. Her solution was to call the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart (the capital of the state she lived in). The people there gave her friendly and competent advice on how to proceed. Perhaps you want to do the same and call a major art museum in Boston or Bratislava?

good advice, thomas. i shall call the national gallery. then again, this is slovakia, there's a good chance they'll just tell me off.

How about Vienna museums -- are you still there? I hear the Viennese have a painting or two hanging in their galleries themselves.

Via Google, I found a site called howtocleananything.com, which had this to say about oil paintings:


I don't know if this would get rid of the flie marks, but it should take care of things like dust and spiderwebs.

Well, we paid a bit more for the restauration of our painting, so Thomas' advice really is the best.

i would also pay with my life should i do anything to the paintings.... so i'll call around and then perhaps desist from cleaning. it's my cleaning obsession. need clean surfaces! and painting is a surface. very very distracting if flies bombard it.

Restoration involves more than cleaning and Windsor Newton makes a good product for the use of cleaning oil paintings. Use a soft, lintless cloth (cloth diapers work well) and apply the cleaner in circular motions, moving clockwise then counter-clockwise. Blotting will be more time consuming and not really necessary if the original oil painting is rather flat. The Windsor Newton product is fine castile soap with a mild solvent. Unfortunately, it comes in very small jars.

Windsor & Newton now makes the painting cleaner in a larger size, available at a very good site, MisterArt:

http://www.misterart.com/store/view/001/group_id/597/Winsor--Newton-Artists-Oil-Picture-Cleaner.htm

It's a new formulation but by a trusted art supply manufacturer.

A professional restorer is likely to charge you more than the paintings are worth. "Over a $1,000" is not a big risk. Over $10,000 might warrant taking them to a professional.

Yes, that's why we did so

I knew that!

Revarnishing is also a good idea and this entails removing the oil painting from its frame. I'd still use a good quality damar varnish, although the acrylics are perfectly good. I'd use the removable acrylic coating as the remover will not attack oil based paints.

bookmarking

Book Mark

well, paintings are by bohus kulhavy - among the best postmodernist painters we got. or that we had, since he died recently.


not the painting we have, but that's the style. we have three of his large paintings, and another one that's not by him and not oil... in any case, they are very valuable. i will not even guess how much, i wouldn't know. but perhaps it is a sign to desist from cleaning, oh sigh.

His death probably increased the value of the paintings.

Consult a professional.

I called a friend who's a conservationist at Winterthur. She said that restoration is non reversible whereas conservation is.
They use different enzymes (She said one of the enzymes is really a chemical the has the chemical nature of human saliva)
She said not to worry about the age cracks,unless its an issue that means differential drying and aging from paint to canvas.

She also said, If its valuable, dont do it yourself because
1 you may screw it up
2 youre not insured for errors and omissions whereas conservators are.

SPIT IN A BOTTLE, whoda thunk it.

He died Today, Thursday at the latest