Examples of cleaning treatments performed

at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna

Eva Goetz and Martina Griesser

Paintings Conservation Department
and Conservation Science Department
Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna
Peter Paul Rubens, Stormy landscape with Philemon und Baucis, ~ 1620/1625-1636,
Inv. no. GG_690, oil on oak panel, 147.1 × 209.6 cm, before restoration (treatment: Ina Slama)
© KHM Vienna
 Instant light Raking light Incident light UV light

Dendrochronology Thickness measurement Infrared reflectography X-radiography

Microscopy XRF Cross-sections SEM-EDX

© KHM Vienna
Getty Panel Painting Initiative (PPI)
© KHM Vienna
Degraded varnish and discoloured overpaints
Step by step cleaning (Ethanol / Isooctane)– reduction of varnish and uncovering of original paint layer
© KHM Vienna
Removal of overpaints with Emulsione Cerosa, pH 7 by Zecchi (with Ethanol) and with scalpel
© KHM Vienna
© KHM Vienna
Damages by former solvent treatments
Reduced glazes / drops Local blanching around cracks

© KHM Vienna
Before the restoration After the restoration

© KHM Vienna
Hieronymus Bosch, Christ Carrying the Cross (front) and Christ Child with a walking frame and windmill toy (reverse),
~ 1490/1510, Inv. No. GG_6429, oil on oak panel, 59.5 x 32 cm, before restoration (treatment: Monika Strolz)
© KHM Vienna
Before cleaning

Infrared
reflectogram
© KHM Vienna
 oil retouching retouching without filling
from 1935

gouache retouching

overfillling

old overpaint

overfilling

© KHM Vienna
 overfilling

original paint particles

© KHM Vienna
 Cross section from red background

5 Varnish
4 remnants of brown overpaint
3 intermediate layer(?)
2 Vermillion
1 beige underlayer

Ground layer missing on the sample

Detail: Condition during cleaning 1923 Areas of paint loss through bevelling

© KHM Vienna
© KHM Vienna
After the restoration
© KHM Vienna
Pieter Bruegel d. E, Suicide of Saul, 1562, oil on oak panel, 34.7 × 55.6 cm, GG_1011, before restoration (treatment: Elke Oberthaler)
© KHM Vienna
Details in UV-light and under the Stereomicroscope

© KHM Vienna
Varnish composition – GC-MS results

fatty acids from linseed oil (Pi…pimelic

acid, Su…suberic acid, Az…azelaic acid,
My…myristic acid, Pa…palmitic acid,
Ol…oleic acid, St…stearic acid);
P…diterpenes of pine resin;
M…triterpenes of mastic resin.
right edge of the panel/ upper varnish layers
linseed oil (Pa/St~1.6, Az/Pa~0.8, Az/Su~3.3), amber, pine resin, mastic

© KHM Vienna
© KHM Vienna
Details varnish removal with Ethanol and scalpel
© KHM Vienna
added plank
~ 4 cm

Details in raking light and under UV-light with added plank on the top and old overpaintings under the varnish layer (1780/81)
© KHM Vienna
added plank
~ 4 cm old overpaint
under varnish
area of
old overpaint

Details in raking light and under UV-light with added plank on the top and old overpaintings under the varnish layer (1780/81)
© KHM Vienna
© KHM Vienna
After the restoration
© KHM Vienna
Fragment of a copy after Pieter Bruegel d. Ä, The feast of St. Martin, 4th quarter of the 16th century,
oil on canvas, 92.6 × 73.3 cm, Inv. no. GG_2691, before the restoration
© KHM Vienna
Pieter Bruegel d. E., The Wine of Saint Martin’s Day, ~ 1566 / 67; Prado, Madrid
© KHM Vienna
Copy after Bruegel, The feast of St. Martin, KHM Bruegel d.E., The Wine of Saint Martin’s Day, Prado
© KHM Vienna
 Paint cross-section (grey cloak):

White ground layer:

lead white, probably red lead oxide (?) and silicates

Greyish layer:
Lead white, carbon black, earth pigment

Light grey layer:

Lead white, carbon black, earth pigment
SEM EDX, 350x Rhodamin (Oil) Amidoblack (Protein)

© KHM Vienna
Cleaning tests:
Hydrophobisation with Cyclomethicone (D4 or D5)

Layer 1
 Ethanol : Isooctane (1:1) with cotton swab 2 1
 mechanical with scalpel

© KHM Vienna
Cleaning tests:
Hydrophobisation with Cyclomethicone (D4 or D5)

Layer 2
 Ethanol : Isooctane (1:1) with cotton swab 2 1
 Xanthan gel (pH = 8) + 5 % Benzyl alcohol (30 sec)

 2 %iges Xanthan gel with

100 ml H2O (deion.)
0.5 g Citric acid
0.5 g Boric acid
pH adjusted to 8.0 with 1 M NaOH solution
3

© KHM Vienna
Cleaning tests:
Hydrophobisation with Cyclomethicone (D4 or D5)

Layer 3
2
 Xanthan gel (pH = 8) + 5 % Benzyl alcohol (1 min) 1

© KHM Vienna
Cleaning tests:
Hydrophobisation with Cyclomethicone (D4 or D5)

Layer 4 + 5
 Swelling with Xanthan gel (pH = 8) 2 1
+ 5 % Benzyl alcohol (1 min) and scalpel
 Xanthan gel (with EDTA, pH = 8)
+ 10 – 20 % Benzyl alcohol (1 min)

 2 %iges Xanthan gel with

100ml H2O (deion.)
0.5 g Disodium EDTA
0.5 g Boric acid
3
pH adjust to 8.0 with 1 M NaOH solution

© KHM Vienna
Cleaning tests:
Hydrophobisation with Cyclomethicone (D4 or D5)

Layer 6 (light brown filling)

 Swelling with Xanthan gel (pH = 8) + 5 % Benzyl 2 1
alcohol (1 min) and scalpel
 Xanthan gel (with EDTA, pH = 8) + 20 % Benzyl
alcohol (1 min)
 Carbopol gel with Ethanol, Water and
Diacetonalcohol (max. 30 sec.)

 Carbopol gel (1 g Carbopol + 2.5 g Ethomeen): 3

62.5 g Ethanol
12.5 g H2O (deion.)
12.5 g Diacetonalcohol 6

© KHM Vienna
Removal of overpaints: 3

6
Hydrophobisation with Cyclomethicone (D4 or D5) 2 1 5

4
Layer 1:
3
 scraping off with scalpel

Layer 2-5:
 Xanthan gel (pH = 8) + 5 % Benzyl alcohol
 Xanthan gel (with EDTA, pH = 8) + 10-20 %
Benzyl alcohol applied several times and scalpel

Layer 6 (light brown filling):

 Removing / swelling with Xanthan gel (pH = 8)
+ 5% Benzyl alcohol and scalpel
 Xanthan gel (with EDTA, pH = 8)
+ 20 % Benzyl alcohol (1 min)
 Carbopol gel with Ethanol, Water and
Diacetonalcohol

© KHM Vienna
 Removal of overpaints:

before restoration after restoration

© KHM Vienna
© KHM Vienna
before restoration after cleaning after restoration

after Bruegel, The feast of St. Martin, KHM Bruegel, Prado, Madrid KHM painting
© KHM Vienna
after cleaning; KHM painting Bruegel, The feast of St. Martin, Prado, Madrid
© KHM Vienna
before restoration after restoration
© KHM Vienna
Cleaning Workshop with Paolo Cremonesi

“Materials and Methods for Surface

Cleaning and Removal of Film-
Forming Materials”

KHM, paintings restoration

department

8th - 12th January 2018

20 participants

KHM restorers and natural

scientists

restorers from other Viennese

museums and universities

focus on water-based gels and

emulsions

© KHM Vienna
Cleaning Workshop with Paolo Cremonesi

© KHM Vienna
Salvator Rosa, The battle of the Romans, 1645, oil on canvas, 229 x 345 cm, Inv. no. GG_1641, before restoration (Michael Odlozil, Eva Goetz)
© KHM Vienna
Detail before the restoration in UV light
© KHM Vienna
Detail before the restoration
© KHM Vienna
Detail before the restoration in raking light
© KHM Vienna
Insect infestation
(Biscuit beetle)

Removal of starch glue

paste from former
relining:
5 % Agar Agar;
semi-solid gel (ca. 40°C)

© KHM Vienna
Removal of overpaint
with Xanthan gel

Hydrophobisation with
Cyclomethicone D5

2 % Xanthan gel
100 ml H2O deion.
0.48 g Citric acid
0.3 g Boric acid

Adjusted to pH = 8.5
(with 1 M NaOH)
Conductivity: 3,000 µS

+ 10-20 % Benzyl alcohol

© KHM Vienna
Removal of overpaint
with Xanthan gel

Hydrophobisation with
Cyclomethicone D5

2 % Xanthan gel
100 ml H2O deion.
0.48 g Citric acid
0.3 g Boric acid

Adjusted to pH = 8.5
(with 1 M NaOH)
Conductivity: 3,000 µS

+ 20 % Benzyl alcohol

© KHM Vienna
Detail of the sky; heavily destroyed and overpainted
Test with a Solvent-Surfactant-Gel (SSG C25); 90 ml MEK; 10 ml DMSO

© KHM Vienna
original paint

Detail of the sky; heavily destroyed and overpainted; during / after cleaning
© KHM Vienna
original paint

overpainting

Detail of the sky; heavily destroyed and overpainted; during / after cleaning
© KHM Vienna
After cleaning and during retouching with gouache and aquarelle (present condition)
© KHM Vienna
After cleaning and during retouching with gouache and aquarelle (present condition)
© KHM Vienna
Michelangelo Merisi, gen. Caravaggio, Madonna of the Rosary, ca. 1601, Inv. no. GG 147, Dry cleaning with brush, vacuum
364.5 x 249.5 cm; dry cleaning with brush and suede cloth (2011, 2015, 2019) cleaner, cosmetic sponges (PU)
© KHM Vienna
Structural treatment (Michael Odlozil, Eva Goetz, Ina Slama) © KHM Vienna
Tests for
wet surface cleaning

Conductivity:
0.22 mS and 0.4 mS
pH:
4.17 and 4.23 (21°C)

© KHM Vienna
Wet surface cleaning with buffered solution
pH = 5.5
100 ml deion. H2O
0.15 g acidic acid
Adjusted with 1 M NaOH

© KHM Vienna
Cleaning of uppermost varnish layer with imbedded dirt (Ethanol : Isooctane; 1:4 – 1:5)
© KHM Vienna
Before treatment After treatment
© KHM Vienna
© KHM Vienna
Master of the Benda Madonna, Virgin and Child, ca. 1480, Upper-Rhenish, Oil on oak; 54.8 x 39.4 cm (treatment: Anneliese Foeldes)
© KHM Vienna
Heterogeneities visible under UV Radiation
© KHM Vienna
Test areas after reduction of
upper varnish layers with polar
solvent mixture

Organic analyses of the varnish

layers with GC/MS

Upper layers:
mastic, linseed oil;

 easily soluble in polar

solvents

Multiple uneven varnish layers and strongly degraded remnants

© KHM Vienna
Organic analyses of the varnish
layers with GC/MS

In depths of paint:
pine resin, venetian terpentin,
mastic, (linseed oil)

 soluble in polar solvents

Multiple uneven varnish layers and strongly degraded remnants

© KHM Vienna
Organic analyses of the varnish
layers with GC/MS

Remnants:
aged linseed oil

 not soluble in polar solvents

Multiple uneven varnish layers and strongly degraded remnants

© KHM Vienna
 Multi-step cleaning approach

1. Phase 2. Phase 3. Phase

Free solvent mixtures + cotton swabs Solvent gel Emulsion

Ethanol-Isooctane-mixtures Benzyl alcohol and buffered water

(1:1–1:3) Ethanol-Isooctane (1:1) in Klucel G (pH 8.5) in Xanthan

combined with preliminary hydrophobization

treatment (D5)

© KHM Vienna
Cotton Swab vs Solvent Gel
© KHM Vienna
 Best result

Reduction of strongly degraded remnants of an old, linseed-oil containing varnish

Tests with Pemulen and Xanthan Emulsions

different concentrations of benzyl alcohol and surfactant

© KHM Vienna
Xanthan-Emulsion, pH of 8.5 + 20% benzyl alcohol

Combined with preliminary hydrophobization treatment using

Cyclomethicone D5

Rinsed with buffered water pH 8.5 (stock solution diluted to 10%)

© KHM Vienna
Reduction of strongly degraded remnants of an
old, linseed-oil containing varnish

Xanthan-Emulsion, pH of 8.5
+ 20% benzyl alcohol

Combined with preliminary hydrophobization

treatment using Cyclomethicone D5

Rinsed with buffered water pH 8.5

(stock solution diluted to 10%)

© KHM Vienna
Ongoing project
© KHM Vienna
Acknowledgements

Elke Oberthaler
Ina Slama
Monika Strolz
Michael Odlozil
Anneliese Foeldes
Sabine Stanek
Václav Pitthard
Andreas Uldrich
Tom Ritter
Michael Eder
Sonja Kocian
Getty Panel Painting Initiative

And all colleagues from the KHM