How do I clean a painting?

[Gareth]

I recently bought an oil painting that's a bit dirty and could do with a
good clean. It may have been that the previous owner was a heavy smoker.
It's not of great value, but would look so muck better when cleaned. Can
anyone give me advice on how to clean it easily and not at great expense?

GBai...@netcomuk.co.uk

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[Dr. Lori Verderame]

Bring it to an expert. Depending on age and media, you could ruin the piece
by trying to clean it yourself using conventional methods. Do you know what
type of pigment it is?

--
Lori Verderame, Ph.D
Director, Masterpiece-Galleries
http://www.masterpiece-galleries.com
Gareth wrote in message <3783...@news5.newsfeeds.com>...

[Kenneth Beyer]

It is best to take it to a local gallery/restorer, it may be an oil which generally is quite stable, but if it's over a certain age bitumin will have been used in the darker colours and this doesn't oxydise (dry) like other paints do. If you try cleaning the painting yourself you could end up smearing the paint all over the place!.

If it just needs a clean it shouldn't cost to much (well under £100/$150US), it's generally worth getting old paintings cleaned, it increases the life span of the painting.

Ken Beyer
Artist/Painter.
http://www.telinco.co.uk/beyer/splash.htm

---

[Nicholas Berry]

Gareth <GBai...@netcomuk.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3783...@news5.newsfeeds.com...

> I recently bought an oil painting that's a bit dirty and could do with a
> good clean. It may have been that the previous owner was a heavy smoker.
> It's not of great value, but would look so muck better when cleaned. Can
> anyone give me advice on how to clean it easily and not at great expense?

There are various ways to clean oil paintings but it can be risky if you
don't know what materials have been used.

With paintings I have done myself that have got dirty with cigarette tar
etc. knowing what materials and pigments I have used, I find a bit of spray
multi surface polish such as Sparkle, Pledge, Mr Sheen, etc. works without
causing damage. Though I wouldn't recommend it with every oil painting
especially if it hasn't been varnished. With my own paintings I can of
course restore and retouch them if need be so can afford to be less careful.

Another method is to use a bit of tepid soapy* water and work across the
painting with a cloth (*ordinary hand soap not detergent). As long as the
painting is an oil painting and you are careful not to over wet it i.e.
saturate the canvas or support which may cause the surface to come away this
method is probably the safest of all.

Of course one method is to remove the top layer of varnish with some Turps
or thinners and re-varnish. However this can be very risky because you can
take the top layers of paint off, especially if it only has a thin layer of
varnish or where the artist has used a lot of thinners in the upper layers
of the painting. Not recommended if you are not an expert. Of course
sometimes non-soluble varnishes are used and require a bit heavier treatment
than a bit of turps.

I would therefore recommend the soapy water as the safest method. But would
say if you are not sure it is probably best to take it to an expert.

--
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ni...@artberry.demon.co.uk
http://www.artberry.demon.co.uk/
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