A Restoration Journey for Painting and Frame: “Bandits” by Salvator Rosa

This oil painting features three figures in military dress. An additional figure kneels in the foreground to collect water from a stream, which flows from a small waterfall, another figure on horseback can be seen to the right and all figures have swords or a lance. This prolific work, fully embodying Rosa’s artistic style, dates to ca. 1655.  The frame is wood with plaster molding featuring an outer edge of acanthus leaves and dart motifs. Foundation staff do not believe this frame is original, however, it is the same frame that held “Bandits” when it was purchased by the Aikens in 1858.

Historic Charleston is devoted to conserving the paintings and frames in the Aiken-Rhett House Museum’s art gallery to the highest possible standard. In 2017, Valerie Perry, House Museum Manager, submitted a grant proposal to conserve the frame of Luther Terry’s “Romeo and Juliet”, also housed in the art gallery. To HCF’s delight, the grant was approved and since the beginning of the partnership, Eli Wilner & Company has restored the frames of “Romeo and Juliet” and the house’s copy of Raphael’s “Madonna della seggiola.”

After a trip across the ocean from Rome to Charleston and more than 160 years later, the frame suffered losses of gilt and gesso and was in desperate need of proper cleaning and repair. In progress reports, the team at Eli Wilner noted that their master carver recreated the areas of lost punchwork in the gesso while the finishing team worked to patch the gilding. While large portions of the original gilding were able to be retained, it was noted that extreme caution was necessary when handling.

While the frame was in New York, Joanne Barry worked carefully on cleaning and restoring the original oil painting. The first step of the project is a full examination of the artwork. Conservators use magnification, viewing the painting’s surface under a microscope at 50x magnification, as well as UV light examination. The conservator studied the surface conformation and created a written condition report to document all of the findings–including the history of the piece and the artist’s techniques of applying delicate paint and glaze layers. The painting was photo documented before treatment to record the many fine details of the painting.

Once the appropriate cleaning system was determined, the conservator began a meticulous cleaning – working very slowly revealing a quarter inch of the painting at a time with the custom cleaning solutions and hundreds of hand-rolled cotton swabs. Suddenly, the waterfall came into view and hidden shrubs were able to be distinguished once again. Colors became richer, brighter, and more vivid as decades of dirt was lifted away from the canvas. While cleaning works of art, conservators also work to consolidate flaking paint and work to secure as much of the original paint as possible. Small flakes are set back down using conservation adhesives and if needed, tiny dashes of reversible conservation colors (never oil paint) as the preservation of the original surface is of ultimate importance.