Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.17018/portal.2023.10
About the Dutch method of wax-resin lining of canvas paintings in Croatia
Jelena Zagora
orcid.org/0000-0002-2246-2762
; Croatian Conservation Institute, Split Department for Conservation
Abstract
Although the Dutch method was introduced in Croatia at the beginning of the 20th century and used through local variations almost until its end, the contemporary history of painting restoration techniques in Croatia has also been shaped by other foreign influences. Various different traditional and contemporary lining techniques have been used, from the Austrian starch paste of the 19th century, as well as earlier and later anonymous amateur linings using glue or a mixture of glue and flour, through Dutch wax-resin lining and Florentine pastes, to lining techniques with BEVA glue and cold processes using acrylate resins. Terminology in the field of restoration of canvas paintings in Croatia mainly follows foreign linguistic trends, adapting them to the characteristics and achievements of the Croatian language. According to previous research, Croatia is the second country in the region (the former Yugoslavia and part of Central and Eastern Europe) where the Dutch method arrived, 5 years after it appeared in Slovenia. The Dutch method of lining canvas paintings was invented in the mid-19th century in Amsterdam and spread around the world through visits by experts and exchanges between restorers until the late 20th century. Although its scope and the way it spread around the world and Croatia are still subjects of research, according to the author's research, it was brought to Croatia in 1916 by our first restorer, Ferdo Goglia, while he was self-employed, and later when working for the Archaeological Department of the National Museum in Zagreb. He probably acquired the technique during his apprenticeship in Vienna or Budapest in 1916, but it is also possible that he learned about it from Eduard Gerisch, Viennese painter and restorer. Gerisch also worked in Dalmatia, Istria and Slovenia, and from 1896 used the same recipe as Goglia: a simple mixture of wax and Venetian turpentine, according to art historian Theodor Frimmel. However, this claim, made in 1904, has yet to be proven. The method was later used by Zvonimir Wyroubal, restorer of the Museum of Arts and Crafts, later an employee of the Conservation Institute of the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, as well as his successors in that institution and institutions that were founded later, all the way to the Croatian Conservation Institute in the present day. In Split, from 1955, it was used in the workshop of the Regional Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments. Insight into the digitized and edited part of the archives of the Croatian Conservation Institute reveals 834 paintings that were lined using this technique by experts working in Zagreb and Split from 1916, or from 1955 to the 1990s, with an indication of a significantly higher number. The paper also presents the results of chemical analyses of wax-resin samples from several paintings collected during research within participation in the international workshop in the Netherlands, The Dutch Method Unfolded. In the text, the author presents her personal observations about the physical condition of the works of art on which the method has been used. The options that become available through new research and a different perspective through modern conservation concepts by applying less invasive conservation and restoration approaches are focused on minimal interventions and monitoring conditions. There is always room for testing innovations and your own ideas. This is how every restoration method was created, including wax-resin lining of canvas paintings in the Amsterdam workshop of Nicolaas Hopmann. It was the result of his reflections, ideas and experiments.
Keywords
Dutch lining method; wax-resin adhesive; analysis; canvas paintings; history of conservation and restoration; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
312369
URI
Publication date:
29.12.2023.
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