Paintings on glass

Gary Saretzky <saretzky [at] rci__rutgers__edu> writes

>A colleague has miniature painted portraits on glass in cases
>similar to those used for daguerreotype, ca. 1850, with flakes of
>paint separated from the glass.  Does anyone have a recommendation
>for readhering them?  In case it matters, the images are colored and
>the glass is flat.

Paintings on glass are a varied and difficult lot.  If you are not a
conservator, I suggest that you get these to a conservator
experienced in these things as soon as possible, as compensating for
paint loss is often less satisfactory than with "normal" paintings,
and it seems that once flaking begins, it continue to get worse.
Various resins, including Acryloid B-72 and the polyvinyl acetate
resins (not emulsions!) can be used, but the solvents have to be
chosen carefully to avoid trapping air bubbles between the glass and
the paint.  Another problem is that if the paint flakes are curled
and brittle, the solvent has to be chosen to soften them just enough
so that they lay down flat. Meanwhile, you should keep them
paint-side up.

Barbara Appelbaum

                                  ***
                  Conservation DistList Instance 13:31
                Distributed: Tuesday, November 23, 1999
                       Message Id: cdl-13-31-008
                                  ***