1 INTRODUCTION

Sturgeon glue, long used as a consolidant and adhesive by Russian conservators, has recently become more accessible to conservators in the West. Section 2 of this article will discuss the consolidation of badly tented paint on a 17th-century panel painting using sturgeon glue in the traditional Russian manner. Empirically, for a given percent solution, sturgeon glue has greater tack and lower viscosity than comparable mammalian products such as gelatin and rabbit-skin glue. Its lower viscosity enables ready penetration of the substrate unlike many of the synthetic-based polymeric adhesives. Sturgeon glue's lower gelation temperature can also be of benefit when heat may be a problem.

To Further illustrate current techniques being used in Russia, in section 3 we have translated and adapted sections from the standard text of Russian conservation methods (Gorin and Cherkasova 1977).