Painting lined with painted fiberglass

Another note in the saga of the aluminum paint on linings for
paintings: I just received a note from Bob Lodge saying that he had
seen many lined paintings with a coat of aluminum paint on the
lining reverse among the collections once under the care of the
Intermuseum Laboratory. He recalls that they were wax linings on
heavy bleached linen, and was told that they were the "silver
linings" of Dick Buck.  I know that Mr. Buck, in his research
designed to find materials that would be good moisture barriers for
the reverse of panel paintings, found aluminum paint and PVC to be
two good barrier materials, but I don't remember any of his articles
referring to using the aluminum paint on canvas.  To add to the
confusion, Paul Himmelstein, who was an ICA student at the beginning
of the training program, tells me he never saw this.

I would appreciate any information on this;  I assume that some of
the ICA member museums must have treatment records with this
procedure mentioned if the treatment was done at ICA. This is a
stunning example of scientific research being applied in a myopic
manner, as well as (if indeed Mr. Buck did a bunch of these) of a
major innovation (sic) in treatment never getting into the
literature even though Mr. Buck published quite a few articles.

B. Appelbaum

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 10:49
                Distributed: Thursday, November 21, 1996
                       Message Id: cdl-10-49-002
                                  ***