Re: My apologies for all
In Reply to: Re: My apologies for all posted by hows this on 08/16/00 at 5:34 PM:

Don't forget to examine the site. [URL=http://amsterdam.park.org:8888/Netherlands/pavilions/culture/rembrandt/index.html]http://amsterdam.park.org:8888/Netherlands/pavilions/culture/rembrandt/index.html[/URL]

I worked as a restorer at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art for several years
before teaching. Maroger used none of the tools which we would use today to determine the composition of layers(now primarily done for authentication). Maroger did not
take targeted samples as we do now, nor did he have access to Radiography, basing his conclusions on old and innacurate
manuscripts and surface observations. The chemical composition of the varnish-lead-oil "Maroger" medium will cause the paintings
to darken and crack much sooner than if simple means are employed.
Most of the works we examined surprisingly only contained linseed oil and pigments. There are however several paintings that suffered from premature deterioration in the 19th century due to attempts to
reconstruct the "Secrets of the Old Masters". The great achievements in painting were done with simple means and great hands, not complex recipes. The paintings done with additives such as wax, lead-varnish-oil,
varnish-oil based mediums were in very poor condition.
Those paintings in which no lead
or resin based mediums were seen lasted the longest without the need for extensive restoration. The basic medium of linseed oil based paints with the addition of just a little turpentine included Rubens, Velasquez, Titian,and Rembrandt. There was some lead present due to lead pigments,which naturally accelerated drying. If you are going to make paints, be sure to grind them sufficiently as the resulting film will not be permanent if the pigments are not fine.
Cold pressed linseed oil and turpentine should be fine,and permanent, using just a little turpentine to make the paint flow.
I hope this answers some questions.

Selia

Here is some more information.

It was only later that people began
wondering whether the paint might
not have been mixed with additives
which affected its composition, such
as resin, wax and albuminous
substances.

These suspicions could only be put to
the test by imitating Rembrandtesque
effects and experimenting with different
additives. Max Doerner, who was
particularly influential in Germany, also
based his findings on reconstruction
experiments. His ideas on Rembrandt's
supposed use of resinous media in
transparent glazes have since been
proved incorrect by tests carried out in
the Scientific Department of the
National Gallery in London. It is only
now that analytical techniques have
become so sophisticated that the
problem of Rembrandt's binding
medium can be tackled scientifically
rather than empirically. The London
researchers focused primarily on the
organic constituents of the medium, the
oils that could have been used, and
possible organic additives like resins,
waxes or albuminous materials. Not
one of the admixtures proposed in
earlier hypotheses was found, and the
only organic materials detected were
linseed oil, and occasionally walnut oil.
These are extremely important findings, although they do not completely resolve the question of
Rembrandt's paint medium, for
leaving aside the organic materials it is
possible that inorganic compounds
could have been added to modify the consistency of the paint. These
substances are more difficult to
detect, since most of the pigments
with which the medium is very
intimately mixed are composed of
inorganic matter, and since the latter
is not pure it is possible to isolate
numerous inorganic substances in
paint samples which are not
necessarily directly associated with
the preparation of the medium.
Nevertheless, advances are also
being made on this front. Agents
which must have been added
primarily to speed the drying process,
such as lead compounds and ground
glass, have now been found.
This was a very small amount and
was somewhat irrelevant as far as having much of an increased drying time.

 
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Translation from Russian Copyright (c) 1999 Vladimir Pavlov.
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