Amazing Facts
Conservation Treatment of a 19th Century Oil on Canvas Painting
In 1992, CCI began to treat the painting Martyre
de saint André apôtre [Martyrdom of Saint Andrew
the Apostle] by French-Canadian artist Louis Hubert
Triaud (1794-1836). The painting belongs to the church
of Saint-André de Kamouraska in Saint-André de Kamouraska,
Quebec.
Triaud spent most of his active career in Quebec City, where he taught painting and drawing at the Ursuline Convent. A friend and assistant of Joseph Légaré and Antoine Plamondon, two early Quebec masters, Triaud is said to be the founder of Canadian landscape painting. He also restored works of art from the Desjardins collection in Quebec City.
This monumental canvas features Saint Andrew, one of the first disciples of Christ, with an attending follower kneeling to his left. Two cherubs descend from the sky. The background depicts an ancient fortified harbour. According to tradition, Saint Andrew’s preaching converted so many people to the Christian faith that the Governor of Patrae in Greece feared a popular uprising. Saint Andrew was arrested, tortured, and bound to an X-shaped cross, which has since become a symbol of his martyrdom.
The painting had undergone previous restorations during which large areas of the cross had been overpainted. Adverse environmental conditions had caused the canvas to weaken and the paint to flake. This had resulted in numerous large paint losses, notably along the edges of the painting. The combination of embedded grime and darkened varnish greatly obscured the original colours of the painting.
Initial cleaning tests demonstrated the degree to which the colours in the painting had been obscured. An appropriate cleaning solution was used to remove the layers of embedded dirt. After careful testing, a combination of organic solvents was applied with cotton swabs to remove both the darkened varnish and the areas of overpaint.
Once the time-consuming job of cleaning was completed, the painting was prepared to be lined. Such treatment was necessary because the original canvas had degraded considerably. Both the original canvas and a new polyester lining canvas were infused with microcrystalline wax and were adhered together on a lining hot-table.
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Paint losses were filled with acrylic gesso. Fills were then inpainted with watercolours, followed by further inpainting with powder pigments in a resin medium. A natural resin varnish was subsequently brushed onto the entire paint surface as a protective coating. Finally, the richly carved and gilded frame, custom-made for this painting by the well-known sculptor François Baillargé (1759-1830), was cleaned and its loose ornaments were secured. The painting was replaced in its frame and was returned to its place of prominence in the church in 1994.
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