© Stephen Rickerby
The
Resurrection: detail of paint flaking and loss in
March 2001 |
The
apse painting scheme in the Church of St James the
Great, Morpeth, Northumberland, is an important
survival of Victorian ecclesiastical decoration.
Painted in 1875 by Clayton and Bell probably the
most famous church-decorating firm of the period
the south side of the scheme has been severely
damaged by rainwater infiltration. This appears to
have occurred first in c.1907,
and then on other occasions since. The impact was
both drastic and lasting. Flaking and loss of paint
have been addressed by repeated restorations, only
for the problem to re-emerge on a progressively
greater scale. Photographic documentation from the
late 1960s onwards shows, for example, a dramatic
increase in deterioration during this period.
When the condition of
the scheme became a cause of renewed concern in
December 2000, reasons for its continuing
deterioration were unclear. It was not known, for
example, whether the fabric was still affected by
rainwater penetration, or how rapidly the flaking
and loss of paint were occurring. |
Seeking
to avoid the short-term treatment cycle that had
characterised previous interventions, a phase of
investigation and analysis was proposed to diagnose
this situation before deciding a treatment plan.
With
generous funding from the parish, this was
undertaken in March 2001. In
situ investigations and analysis and
research conducted thereafter focused on
identifying the origins, processes (causes and
activation mechanisms) and consequences of
deterioration, and on establishing remaining
conservation risks.
The phase had four main components, as follows:
-
the
compilation of a conservation history to
identify events and circumstances that have had
an impact on the fabric and the painting scheme;
-
a
condition survey to establish both the extent
and nature of the current deterioration, and to
assess rates of deterioration over time;
-
the
scientific examination of original and added
materials, with particular emphasis on those
that have had a role in deterioration processes;
and
-
basic
liquid moisture investigations, including
examination of the interior and exterior walls,
measurement of interior floor levels and
exterior ground levels, core-sampling and ion
analysis.
Findings
suggested that the deterioration was partly linked
to the dissolution and crystallisation of calcium
sulfate salt, originating in a gypsum plaster
underlying most of the painting scheme. The
conservation history indicated that rainwater
infiltration could have recurred at different
periods since 1907 to activate this salt-related
deterioration. It is also possible that periods of
condensation may have also activated soluble salts.
The apparent rate of paint flaking and loss
irregular and intermittent, albeit with devastating
results fitted with a pattern of intermittent
rainwater penetration over many years. Fortunately,
the liquid moisture investigations confirmed that
the fabric is currently dry.
Despite
these dry conditions, paint loss was still ongoing,
and it was necessary to define the reasons for this
before embarking on remedial treatment. The
condition survey showed that new losses had expanded
from pre-existing areas of flaking, and that there
were also far greater expanses of flaking than there
were losses. Considering the inherent susceptibility
of the painting 19th-century mural
techniques are notoriously expedient and the
severe deterioration that the scheme had suffered as
a result of repeated rainwater infiltration, it was
concluded that the ongoing loss was primarily
related to these past circumstances rather than to
any new phenomena. As a further precaution, however,
a trial area of paint relaying and fixing was
undertaken and assessed over a suitable time period
(17 months). Other than two very small areas of
renewed flake lifting, this test proved stable.
Alongside the collected evidence to demonstrate that
there was no ongoing deterioration other than
expected loss from pre-existing areas of flaking,
conditions were judged suitable to proceed with the
treatment of the painting scheme.
The
treatment phase was conducted in September 2003.
The primary tasks were the relaying and fixing of
the extensive areas of exfoliated painting. A number
of procedures were employed relaxing the flakes
with an ultrasonic humidifier, relaying the flakes
with heated spatulas, maintaining tensioned presses
against the flakes and these are detailed and
illustrated in the following report. Given the
nature of the paint flakes large, rigid and
brittle, severely deformed and curled, and extremely
precarious some loss was inevitable. But
considering the appalling condition of the painting
before its treatment, a great deal has now been
stabilised. Although every effort has been made to
escape the cycle of short-term treatment and
re-treatment of the last few decades, some flaking
will probably recur. However, the collected evidence
shows that even when the painting was at its most
precarious, the rate of paint loss was relatively
slow. Now that the flaking paint has been secured
and the conditions that gave rise to this
problem are no longer active the painting should
avoid the large-scale and extensive paint loss that
has occurred in the recent past.
The
fixing treatment employed an aqueous-based system,
which simultaneously had some cleaning effect on the
painting scheme. However, given a number of risks
the past vulnerability of the painting to liquid
moisture, the evident damage done to the painting by
previous cleaning attempts, and the fragility of the
newly relayed flakes aqueous (and other liquid)
cleaning procedures were not generally pursued.
Judicious superficial cleaning with slightly
dampened swabs did, however, produce a significant
improvement.
Although
the Parish has a long-standing aim to restore the
large areas of distracting paint loss, this was not
undertaken as part of the current conservation
treatment. Instead, losses were simply toned with a
neutral watercolour wash, in order to lessen
their visual disturbance. While this does not
preclude the future option to restore the losses
fully, decisions should be viewed in the context of
the recent history of repeated restoration of the
scheme. At this stage, it is probably advisable to
stay with a less interventive and less costly
method of improving the presentation of the
scheme.
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