Penleigh Boyd Oil Painting

‘Port Hacking from Moombara’ captures this area of Southern Sydney as it would have been in the early 1920s. Painted using oils on canvas, it was then fitted into an ornate, bronze patinated frame. Over the years, the paint layer and primer had cracked extensively as a result of rapid changes in temperature and humidity. This left a network of fine lines across the surface, as well as blanching, losses and lifting of the paint layer. Upon arrival at ICS, a small tear and dent were also found in the lower right side of the canvas and the frame was in poor condition, with losses to the moulding and a piece of ornamentation missing.

To address the various issues affecting both the painting and the frame, an extensive and thorough treatment was carried out, which included the following steps:

• Removed the painting from the frame and the canvas from the stretcher
• Cleaned the front and back of the canvas as much as possible
• Applied consolidant and adhesive from the back
• Relocated the flaking paint into original position with the use of suction hot table
• Applied a strip lining
• Flattened the deformation around the tear and repaired the tear itself
• Cleaned the back of the canvas and removed excess adhesive
• Re-installed the canvas onto the original stretcher
• Applied an isolating varnish to further consolidate the paint layer and correct blanching
• Infilled and retouched losses
• Applied a final coat of varnish to adjust the surface sheen
• Surface cleaned the frame; consolidated the compo moulding where necessary; reproduced the missing sections of ornamentation; infilled and inpainted losses; and applied a final polish
• Re-installed the painting into the frame