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1866 painting depicts forging of Parrott rifle
In 1866, John Ferguson Weir painted "The Gun Foundry," depicting workers pouring molten iron into a casting pit at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring to create a Parrott gun.
The painting, which lives at the Putnam History Museum, was last cleaned 50 years ago. Kara Mattsen, the director of curation, said the staff noticed "it had gotten a little foggy."
It was "dirty, very dirty," said conservator Nadia Ghannam, who on Friday (May 29) will reveal the results of her thorough cleaning, funded by state grants. Ghannam has worked in the conservation departments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Guggenheim, among other museums. At Dia Beacon, she worked on the 102-piece Andy Warhol collection.
As you might expect, refreshing a 160-year-old oil on canvas entails far more than a toothbrush and a bottle of Mr. Clean.
"In 1973, it underwent a very aggressive treatment," Ghannam said, including a coating of acrylic varnish. "I did tests to see what I could do to improve that synthetic coating, because it was a little thick and gray-looking. It's a small window to find the right combination of materials so you can safely remove a discolored coating without removing paint." She concluded the 1973 layer wasn't discolored enough to take the risk.
Ghannam noted that Weir painted "The Gun Foundry" during the Industrial Revolution, a period when artists started using mass-produced materials. "They were using a lot of crazy stuff in the paint," she said. "Some of it's difficult to take off now. For this surface cleaning, I used water with diammonium citrate, a mild chelating agent [which is gentler than acids]. Then I used a mild solvent to deal with the acrylic layer."
She laughed while explaining that organic chemistry "nearly killed" her while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Cornell University and a master's degree in art restoration at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. "You have to understand paint chemistry and have a knowledge of artist materials and art history," she said. "My specialty became 19th- and early 20th-century American paintings."
She noted that her work on "The Gun Foundry" was not a restoration, which involves repainting, a practice that conservators don't tend to use. "My approach is more minimal," she said. "I did some retouching, but only where there's something missing." On Weir's painting, the damage was limited to the bottom edge and perimeter. There, she used a watercolor formulated for conservators that mimics oil paint.
Ghannam also refurbished the wood frame, which she described as "original and beautiful. It has interesting techniques like burnished gold, then matte gold, then textured gold leaf, which was popular in the 19th century."
She found no major problems, such as a tear. "It's in good condition, a pretty solid painting — a sign of the painter's good technique," she said.
Her work enabled details in Weir's painting to re-emerge. Before the cleaning, even Ghannam didn't notice a dog in the lower part of the painting.
Weir's art bucked a 19th-century trend, Mattsen noted. "Much the art at that time reflected the Hudson River School approach of sweeping landscapes and beautiful scenery," she said. "Weir departs from that, focusing on this industrial scene with everyday workers at the forefront."
Weir (1841-1926) grew up at West Point, where his father was a professor of drawing and provided much of his formal training. He had 15 siblings. He was fond of visiting the gun factory in Cold Spring, referring to it in his journal as "the dear old foundry."
Mattsen said the painting also portrays a who's who of the foundry elite, including founder Gouverneur Kemble and Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point grad who designed a rifled cannon that was mass produced during the Civil War. (A replica is displayed on the Cold Spring waterfront.)
Weir started sketching inside the foundry in 1864 and some of his early drawi...
In 1866, John Ferguson Weir painted "The Gun Foundry," depicting workers pouring molten iron into a casting pit at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring to create a Parrott gun.
The painting, which lives at the Putnam History Museum, was last cleaned 50 years ago. Kara Mattsen, the director of curation, said the staff noticed "it had gotten a little foggy."
It was "dirty, very dirty," said conservator Nadia Ghannam, who on Friday (May 29) will reveal the results of her thorough cleaning, funded by state grants. Ghannam has worked in the conservation departments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art and the Guggenheim, among other museums. At Dia Beacon, she worked on the 102-piece Andy Warhol collection.
As you might expect, refreshing a 160-year-old oil on canvas entails far more than a toothbrush and a bottle of Mr. Clean.
"In 1973, it underwent a very aggressive treatment," Ghannam said, including a coating of acrylic varnish. "I did tests to see what I could do to improve that synthetic coating, because it was a little thick and gray-looking. It's a small window to find the right combination of materials so you can safely remove a discolored coating without removing paint." She concluded the 1973 layer wasn't discolored enough to take the risk.
Ghannam noted that Weir painted "The Gun Foundry" during the Industrial Revolution, a period when artists started using mass-produced materials. "They were using a lot of crazy stuff in the paint," she said. "Some of it's difficult to take off now. For this surface cleaning, I used water with diammonium citrate, a mild chelating agent [which is gentler than acids]. Then I used a mild solvent to deal with the acrylic layer."
She laughed while explaining that organic chemistry "nearly killed" her while earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Cornell University and a master's degree in art restoration at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. "You have to understand paint chemistry and have a knowledge of artist materials and art history," she said. "My specialty became 19th- and early 20th-century American paintings."
She noted that her work on "The Gun Foundry" was not a restoration, which involves repainting, a practice that conservators don't tend to use. "My approach is more minimal," she said. "I did some retouching, but only where there's something missing." On Weir's painting, the damage was limited to the bottom edge and perimeter. There, she used a watercolor formulated for conservators that mimics oil paint.
Ghannam also refurbished the wood frame, which she described as "original and beautiful. It has interesting techniques like burnished gold, then matte gold, then textured gold leaf, which was popular in the 19th century."
She found no major problems, such as a tear. "It's in good condition, a pretty solid painting — a sign of the painter's good technique," she said.
Her work enabled details in Weir's painting to re-emerge. Before the cleaning, even Ghannam didn't notice a dog in the lower part of the painting.
Weir's art bucked a 19th-century trend, Mattsen noted. "Much the art at that time reflected the Hudson River School approach of sweeping landscapes and beautiful scenery," she said. "Weir departs from that, focusing on this industrial scene with everyday workers at the forefront."
Weir (1841-1926) grew up at West Point, where his father was a professor of drawing and provided much of his formal training. He had 15 siblings. He was fond of visiting the gun factory in Cold Spring, referring to it in his journal as "the dear old foundry."
Mattsen said the painting also portrays a who's who of the foundry elite, including founder Gouverneur Kemble and Robert Parker Parrott, a West Point grad who designed a rifled cannon that was mass produced during the Civil War. (A replica is displayed on the Cold Spring waterfront.)
Weir started sketching inside the foundry in 1864 and some of his early drawi...