Advanced Course in Icon Conservation and Restoration

A. ICON PAINTING TECHNIQUE ON WOODEN SUPPORT

1.            Historical sources (erminie, podlinniki). Comparison with Western  technical treaties

2.            Supports (wooden boards, linen, etc. = tabletki, povoloka)

3.            Preparation of the levcas

4.            Preliminary drawing (proris', priporoscia, prilep, nalep, andivoli )

5.            Application of metals (gold, silver, dvoinik, imitation of gold)

6.            Pictorial layer (tempera painting, oil painting; mixed media = pol'ia. lichnoe, dolichnoe, plav, proplasmos, dvizhki.)

7.            Paints, lacquers (alifa)

8.            Metal revetments (oklad, risa, basma, kaka, tamata).

9.            Other coverings (of pearls): pelena, kiot.

B. ICONS MADE OF OTHER MATERIALS

1. Stone:

•  Shale

•  Steatite

• Hematite

• Semi-precious stones

• Quartz

2. Metal:

• Copper

• Bronze

• Niello

• Enamels

• Alloys

• Noble metals

3. Mosaic

4. Wood

5. Terracotta, porcelain and majolica

6. Ivory, mother of pearl, bone

7. Prints on paper, linen, silk etc.

C. THE LOCAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ICONOGRAPHIC PRODUCTION

Albania

Armenia

Bosnia

Bulgaria:

• Trjavna

• Bansco

• Samokov

Czechia

Croatia:

• Dalmatian School,

• Dubrovnik School,

• Bokokotorska School

Egypt

Ethiopia

Finland

Georgia

Greece:

• Kastoria, late 15th c.

• Schools in Macedonia

• Mount Athos

• Ionian Islands: Kefalonia, Corfu (Heptanesian School)

• Northern Greece: Workshops in Ellada and Ioannina

• Thebe

• Crete: Cretan school of the fifteenth century, Italo-Cretan school of the fifteenth-sixteenth centuries, Cretan icons of the sixteenth-eighteenth centuries.

• Cyprus

Erzegovina

Italy

Lebanon

Macedonia

Montenegro

Romania

Russia:

• Novgorod, 12th c.

• Pskov, 14th c.  

• Tver', 15th c.

• Ryazan

• Rostov-Suzdal’, 15th-16th cc.

• Volga Region, 16th c.

• Northern Russia, 16th c.

• School of Stroganov end of 16th  - beginning of the 17th century

• Moscow, 17th c.

• Tsar's School, 17th c.

• Cities and monasteries near Moscow, 17th c.

• Palech, 18th – 19th cc.

• Kostromà, 18th – 19th c.

• Romanovskie pis’ma, 18th – 19th cc.

• Pomorskie pis’ma, 18th – 19th cc.

• Pescechonovskie pis’ma, 18th – 19th cc.

• Embossed icons

• Silver Age Icons

Serbia

Sinai

Slovakia

Turkey

Ukraine

Hungary

Vojvodina

D. TECHNOLOGY AND EXAMINATION OF THE PAINTED ICON.

I. MAIN PHASES IN THE HISTORY OF ICON PAINTING TECHNOLOGY.

1.            Support

2.            Preparation and priming

3.            Design

4.            Gilding (metal foil)

5.            Paint Layer

6.            Protective layer

II. COMPLEX INVESTIGATION OF THE WORK

1.            Examination of the support

2.            Examination of the preparation (priming)

3.            Drawing examination

4.            Metal leaf examination

5.            Examination of the paint layer

6.            Examination of the protective layer

III. FUNDAMENTAL HISTORICAL PHASES IN THE INVESTIGATION OF THE WORK.

IV. METHODOLOGICAL BASES.

V. NON-DESTRUCTIVE INVESTIGATIVE TECHNIQUES.

1.            Investigations in the visible light register.

2.            UV investigation. Equipment. Photographic fixation.

3.            IR ray investigation. Equipment. Photographic fixation.

1.            NIR (near infrared) spectroscopy.

2.            X-ray investigation. Equipment. Recent innovations.

3.            X-ray energodispersive analysis.

4.            Other new techniques for ND study: electromagnetic resonance, special fiber optic devices, etc.

5.            Order for the conduct of the operations.

VI. INVESTIGATIONS REQUIRING SAMPLE COLLECTION.

1.            General scheme of examinations of pigments and mineral fillers of the preparation.

2.            Microscopic investigation.

3.            Microchemical analysis of inorganic materials.

4.            Physico-chemical analysis of pigments.

5.            Analysis of organic binders.

6.            Identification of resins and paints.

7.            Investigation of supports, stuccoes and any metal or fabric coverings.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

• ·               Main technological types of organic pigments. Methods for their preparation from natural dyes.

• ·               Main organic pigments derived from natural dyes of plant or animal origin.

• ·               Diagnostic symptoms of organic pigments of various technological types.

• ·               Diagnostics of organic blue, red and purple dyes of plant or animal origin in organic pigments.

• ·               Systems adopted for the thin chromatography of natural dyes.

• ·               Composition and some chemical and thermal peculiarities of the pigments used.

• ·               Some characteristic adsorption maximums of organic and mineral pigments.

• ·               Amino acid content in some animal and vegetable proteins (in %).

• ·               Composition of the egg white and yolk of the chicken egg (in %).

• ·               Composition of the rubbers used as a binder.

• ·               Composition of fatty acids in some vegetable oils used in painting.

• ·               Composition of the lipid complex of the chicken egg.

• ·               Composition of chromatography mixtures on "Fixion 50 x 3" plates.

• ·               Soaking and melting temperatures of some resins.

• ·               Chemical composition of rosins (%).

• ·               Composition of mixtures of turpentine and rosin resin acids (%).

• ·               Composition of mixtures of resinic acids and their derivatives in Strasbourg and Venice turpentine and Canadian balsam (%).

• ·               Chemical composition of shellac.

• ·               Chemical composition of fresh, aged and fossil Kauri gum (in % of whole weight).

• ·               Position of the bands of electrical oscillations in the C=O radicals of resin acids and in the COO-radicals of copper resinates in the IR spectrum of natural resins.

• ·               Average ratios of surface sizes of maximums in the characteristic IR absorption bands of natural resins.

8. Description of the state of the work before restoration

E. CONSERVATION AND RESTORATION.

1.            Damage and its causes.

2.            Preparation of working solvents.

3.            Treatment of parts damaged by microorganisms.

4.            Prophylactic Gluing

5.            Consolidation of the pictorial layer and the plaster background.

6.            Restoration of the wooden support.

7.            Elimination of residues on the surface.

8.            Elimination of the old protection and repainting.

9.            Characteristics of protectives and touch-ups in the various schools.

10.         Organic solvents used to remove old paints.

11.         Technology for the removal of old paints and touch-ups.

12.         Pictorial integrations of the damaged areas.

13.         Painting

14.         Documentation after restoration

FURTHER INFORMATION: description of conservation and restoration processes

F. COPIES, REPLICAS AND FORGERIES IN ANTIQUITY AND TODAY.