Overpainting

Abstract: As photography grew more popular following its invention in 1839, its admirers did not understand how a medium that rendered shapes and textures in exquisite detail could fail to render them in realistic color. Also disappointing was the tendency of the captured images to fade over time. Photographers, ever eager to please their public, began "painting" their photographs with substances ranging from water colors and oil to chalk and crayon. Images were enlarged, enhanced, and framed, to simulate the splendors of the traditional portrait.With its rich variety of illustrations in color and duotone, The Painted Photograph is the first comprehensive history of overpainting, from its origins to World War I. The 131 illustrations featured draw upon original nineteenth- and early twentieth-century sources, most from America and Britain, but also representing Japan, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Poland, Canada, Bohemia, India, Australia, Norway, Holland, and Russia.In describing a multitude of early techniques, the authors survey overpainting on various types of photographs, including daguerreotypes, tintypes, and imprinted porcelain, milk glass, enamel, magic lantern slides, and textiles. Particularly fascinating are discussions of overpainted death portraits, most commonly those of children, and the origins of popular "picture postcards" featuring overpainted landscape scenes. The Henisches address also the eager acceptance of the painted photograph throughout the world, despite the hostility of the art-critical establishment.The Painted Photograph will appeal to a wide public interested in photography, history, sociology, social anthropology, folk art, popular fashion, and antiques.

Abstract: This article covers a methodology for evaluating the effectiveness of cleaning two Russian icons. The icons belong to a group of five from the same iconographic school, dating from the 16th to 17th centuries. An integrated and complementary approach to varnish and overpaint removal involved microscopic techniques (optical and scanning electron microscopy) and colorimetry (CIE L*a*b* system). The materials and techniques used in these icons have been characterized previously. Cleaning revealed extensive overpainting that had not only dramatically changed the original appearance, but also the meaning and attribution of one of the two icons. The analyses carried out were useful in determining the extent of the overpainting and led to a better assessment of the results and effectiveness of the restoration.

Abstract: Background is provided regarding the discoveries of paint which are believed to be of Anglo-Saxon origin. Major design modifications were executed on the Wells baptismal font (these are described); nonetheless, some original paint is likely to have survived, but this may have been a ground for gilding or other coloring. There were three layers of paint identified on the rood at Breamore, one of which dates earlier than its move in the 15th century overpainting was done in the 15th and again in the 16th centuries. The bas relief at Barton-upon-Humber had been scoured in the restoration of 1858-1859, leaving no traces of coating; however, this carving is compared to a Virgin and Child relief at Deerhurst where the details of the sculptural outline had been rendered in paint. An Anglo-Saxon wall plaster fragment was in the excavation of the tower but provides no clue to contemporaneous polychromy.