Artist unknown | Oil on wood | Probably 19th century
The restoration reestablished visual harmony and improved the devotional legibility of the piece, allowing its emotional and spiritual power to emerge once again.
This intimate depiction of the Virgin and Christ Child belongs to the Vladimir Madonna iconographic tradition – noted for the tender gesture of Christ wrapping his arm around the Virgin’s neck. Unlike earlier Russian or Byzantine masterpieces, this example had been heavily overpainted and altered, likely as part of a mass-produced 19th-century devotional piece, possibly from a Kharkiv or Mstera workshop.
The icon presented with extensive clumsy retouching, surface dirt, disfiguring varnish, and a missing section where the Virgin’s hand would traditionally appear. This restoration sought to stabilise the panel, clean and clarify the original features, and sympathetically retouch compromised areas to restore devotional integrity.
Condition Upon Arrival
- Overpainting & Loss: Extensive crude overpaint, particularly on the Virgin’s garments and Christ’s feet.
- Missing Elements: The Virgin’s right hand, traditionally shown supporting the child, had been painted over entirely.
- Paint Loss & Craquelure: Loss of original ground and paint, notably around the Virgin’s head and chin. Multiple craquelure patterns including cupping and net cracks.
- Panel Integrity: Wooden support panel (likely linden) with oak or mahogany tenon inserts, showing minor splitting.
- Varnish Layer: Thick waxy varnish, atypical for tempera icons – supporting the identification of oil as the painting medium.
Treatment Summary
1. Cleaning
Initial cleaning tests used distilled water, tap water, and saliva to assess the removal of grime and overpaint.
Adjusted water solutions with chelators (DPTA and EDTA) were tested to increase pH while remaining safe to the oil-based medium. A pH of 8 proved effective and was used for two complete surface cleans.
Final cleaning was achieved with pH-neutral soap, which removed residual dirt and revealed earlier overpainting.
2. Overpaint Removal
High alkaline soap diluted with water was used to lift extensive red overpaint in the Madonna’s sleeve and shoulder.
Darker overpaint, including faux drapery folds, was addressed using a mix of high alkaline soap and alcohol.
Attempts to lift black overpaint (possibly applied with marker) using methylated spirits proved too aggressive and risked removing original pigment – these areas were left untouched.
3. Retouching
Removal of overpaint revealed a total loss of original pigment beneath in several areas.
Retouching was carried out with aquazol resin and watercolours, carefully layered to restore visual coherence without imitating lost details.