RESTORATION REVEALED
RESTORATION REVEALED
An exhibition of the work of the Bush & Berry Conservation Studio,
in the drawings and paintings of Rachel Hemming Bray
Alan Bush & Jonathan Berry have been working together in painting conservation for 37 years.
They have built up such a reputation that they are used by the keepers of some of the nation’s
most valuable pictures including The National Trust, The Royal Collection, the National Portrait Gallery
and many private collections.
Without the painstaking art of the restorer, many of our most famous and beloved art works would
not have survived. All have needed restoration at some point in their long lives.
Surprisingly, we often take the conservators’ skills for granted. Works of art can be very fragile and
are always vulnerable, whether due to the damaging effects of damp or, more dramatically, floods
or fire. There have also been famous cases of intentional damage, like the suffragette who made
a political point by slashing a Velasquez painting in the National Gallery, London, of a naked woman’s
back. And yet now, if you visit the Gallery, thanks to remarkable restoration work, you would find it
hard to see any sign of that damage.
I was privileged to watch the conservators at work over nearly two years and made many drawings
and paintings including this drawing of the above canvas when it came into the restorers. The painting
had been cut off its wooden stretcher years ago and left in an attic rolled up. The paint surface was
damaged as well as filthy. After full restoration you would never have known the precarious history of
this 19th century gentleman’s portrait.
Conservators play a big part in the detective work associated with major paintings of the past.
They can see beneath the obvious top surface of the paint using their years of experience, knowledge
of chemistry and sometimes ultra violet, infrared and x-ray equipment. There may be hidden figures,
inscriptions and signatures which have been painted over. In my painting below of the restorer working
on a picture from Hampton Court of Queen Caroline, the restorer is removing the old discoloured varnish
from around Queen’s waist. As the cleaning continued, an inscription in the top right corner was revealed,
stating that the Queen had commissioned this painting for her favourite physician. For some reason,
unknown to us, this inscription was later painted over. In the bottom left corner, behind where the
conservator in his white coat is working, is a portrait of her young son. By the boy’s portrait another
hidden inscription was discovered, with his name and title. It is possible that this had been painted
over because the son later fell out of favour, after his part in the demise of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
The restorer uncovered the inscriptions but an historian is needed to understand why they had been covered.
In the past, fashionable changes to a painting may have been made such as the addition of some
covering to a naked figure in key places and a later restorer may reveal the naked figure again.
Sometimes restoration brings to light a forgery, but more often it reveals the artist’s own changes in
the composition giving us an understanding of the artist’s creative process.
Apart from all the advances that have happened in the field of conservation, there must always be the
conservators’ highly developed artistic sensibility. However talented a painter they themselves may be,
a restorer must be faithful to the original artist’s work. A top restorer must therefore have a tremendous
knowledge of past paintings. They must also be able to restore or recreate everything from the woodwork
involved with panels or stretchers for canvas, to being able to make minute invisible repairs to any painted
surfaces. The physical demands of conservation work can be enormous when a large canvas painting,
for example, has to be installed in complex situations, or restored in situ on ceilings or high up on scaffolding.
I have been very fortunate to have access behind the scenes at the conservation studio of Bush & Berry
where I made drawings and paintings of the restorers at work. I used a wide range of mediums including
gouache, watercolour, pen & ink, pencil, coloured pencils and pastels and oil. I hope you will enjoy this
intimate view of the world of picture restoration.
© Rachel Hemming Bray 2015
An exhibition of the work of the Bush & Berry Conservation Studio,
in the drawings and paintings of Rachel Hemming Bray
Alan Bush & Jonathan Berry have been working together in painting conservation for 37 years.
They have built up such a reputation that they are used by the keepers of some of the nation’s
most valuable pictures including The National Trust, The Royal Collection, the National Portrait Gallery
and many private collections.
Without the painstaking art of the restorer, many of our most famous and beloved art works would
not have survived. All have needed restoration at some point in their long lives.
Surprisingly, we often take the conservators’ skills for granted. Works of art can be very fragile and
are always vulnerable, whether due to the damaging effects of damp or, more dramatically, floods
or fire. There have also been famous cases of intentional damage, like the suffragette who made
a political point by slashing a Velasquez painting in the National Gallery, London, of a naked woman’s
back. And yet now, if you visit the Gallery, thanks to remarkable restoration work, you would find it
hard to see any sign of that damage.
I was privileged to watch the conservators at work over nearly two years and made many drawings
and paintings including this drawing of the above canvas when it came into the restorers. The painting
had been cut off its wooden stretcher years ago and left in an attic rolled up. The paint surface was
damaged as well as filthy. After full restoration you would never have known the precarious history of
this 19th century gentleman’s portrait.
Conservators play a big part in the detective work associated with major paintings of the past.
They can see beneath the obvious top surface of the paint using their years of experience, knowledge
of chemistry and sometimes ultra violet, infrared and x-ray equipment. There may be hidden figures,
inscriptions and signatures which have been painted over. In my painting below of the restorer working
on a picture from Hampton Court of Queen Caroline, the restorer is removing the old discoloured varnish
from around Queen’s waist. As the cleaning continued, an inscription in the top right corner was revealed,
stating that the Queen had commissioned this painting for her favourite physician. For some reason,
unknown to us, this inscription was later painted over. In the bottom left corner, behind where the
conservator in his white coat is working, is a portrait of her young son. By the boy’s portrait another
hidden inscription was discovered, with his name and title. It is possible that this had been painted
over because the son later fell out of favour, after his part in the demise of Bonnie Prince Charlie.
The restorer uncovered the inscriptions but an historian is needed to understand why they had been covered.
In the past, fashionable changes to a painting may have been made such as the addition of some
covering to a naked figure in key places and a later restorer may reveal the naked figure again.
Sometimes restoration brings to light a forgery, but more often it reveals the artist’s own changes in
the composition giving us an understanding of the artist’s creative process.
Apart from all the advances that have happened in the field of conservation, there must always be the
conservators’ highly developed artistic sensibility. However talented a painter they themselves may be,
a restorer must be faithful to the original artist’s work. A top restorer must therefore have a tremendous
knowledge of past paintings. They must also be able to restore or recreate everything from the woodwork
involved with panels or stretchers for canvas, to being able to make minute invisible repairs to any painted
surfaces. The physical demands of conservation work can be enormous when a large canvas painting,
for example, has to be installed in complex situations, or restored in situ on ceilings or high up on scaffolding.
I have been very fortunate to have access behind the scenes at the conservation studio of Bush & Berry
where I made drawings and paintings of the restorers at work. I used a wide range of mediums including
gouache, watercolour, pen & ink, pencil, coloured pencils and pastels and oil. I hope you will enjoy this
intimate view of the world of picture restoration.
© Rachel Hemming Bray 2015
