Oil paint on a historic lime plaster wall

The subject is a wall painting in a building built in 1926. The wall
material is lime plaster and the painting on it is made with oil
paint. Parts of the painting are missing (and the wall's lime
plaster in some areas, too) and my job is to re-make this image
first filling in the cavities and then painting the missing parts
(about 5% of the area). The good areas of the painting will be
cleaned.

The largest defective area is 20 centimeters long and 10 centimeters
wide. The painting which is not retouched (or painted over) includes
one colored areas and multi colored decorations. Most parts of the
oil paint are still preserving the original shine.

Which materials would be the most appropriate for filling in the
cavities and retouching in this case? I am going to retouch the
painting for aesthetic reasons as a part of my graduation study.

The conditions of the building are fairly stable at the moment but
there is a possibility that the building will not be heated in the
future (winter temperatures can occasionally reach -35 deg. C).

Is there any reference material on the subject?

I am a senior student in EVTEK University of Applied Sciences in
Finland and I major in interior conservation of historic buildings.

Elina Jarvela


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 19:20
                 Distributed: Tuesday, October 18, 2005
                       Message Id: cdl-19-20-012
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