Lining a ceiling painting

As a fifth year student of the Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg
(SRAL) I am treating a canvas ceiling painting for my thesis
project.

The oval ceiling painting, constructed from one piece of linen and
dating from 1726, has suffered a number of  water damages in the
past. The canvas has weakened considerably, and to prevent more
tears or tears becoming larger the painting will be lined. This will
be done under the supervision of Jos van Och, painting conservator
at SRAL.

Ceiling paintings have other considerations than easel paintings or
wall hangings as they are displayed vertically rather than
horizontally. Traditionally these paintings have often been lined
using wax/resin adhesives. We are looking for an acceptable
alternative to this traditional approach. Due to the manner in which
they hang, other requirements beyond the choice of lining adhesive
should be taken into consideration.  We are thinking to use a strong
and stiff interleave as an armament/reinforcement for the glue (like
iron mesh found in reinforced concrete) Therefore the interleave
fabric needs to be stiff and open weave through which the glue can
penetrate and form a "locked/rigid bond".

We were thinking about making tests with carbon monofilament and
glass fiber fabric.  However cost per metre should be taken into
consideration.

Please could anyone contact me if they have undertaken similar
projects where they had to line a ceiling painting, I would be very
interested to know how those were treated. Thinking about:

    What were the issues involved? Were the considerations different
    from lining a vertical painting?

    What kind of fabrics were used as lining canvas or interleave?
    (Experience with glass fiber?)

    What kind of adhesive was used?

I would greatly appreciate to receive any helpful information or
treatment options and advice.

Annefloor Schlotter
SRAL
Postbus 1679
6201 BR
Maastricht
The Netherlands


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 22:55
                  Distributed: Friday, March 27, 2009
                       Message Id: cdl-22-55-015
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