Morning Mists

Institution: Princeton University Art Museum

Artist: Ernest Lawson

Date: 1904

Materials: Oil on canvas

Inscriptions: Signed “E. Lawson,” lower proper right corner

Owner: Princeton University Art Museum

Supervisor: Bart Devolder (Chief Conservator)

Consulted: Bart Devolder; Laura Hartman (Associate Paintings Conservator, Dallas Art Museum)

Information

    • This painting was chosen for exhibition in the American wing of the new Princeton University Art Museum, slated to open in Spring 2025, and needed to be treated for exhibition.

    • Ernest Lawson was a Canadian-American artist known for landscapes and semi-urban scenes on the outskirts of New York City, where he moved in 1898 during a time of urbanization. He lived in Washington Heights, a Manhattan neighborhood that had been mostly rural during the 19th-century but had begun to be developed during his time there.

    • When Bart and I went to view the Lawson painting in storage, we were surprised and pleased to discover a dog painting on the verso.

      • If the dog painting is by Lawson, it is an unusual subject for him – I was not able to find any other examples of his work I could remotely compare to it.

    • A discolored varnish disrupted the tonality of the image.

      • Is a varnish appropriate for this painting?

      • Research into the artist’s technique revealed he often reworked paintings on top of a varnish layer, complicating varnish removal.

    • The proper left edge of the painting is tacked to the stretcher bar on the recto and has split along that turnover edge. The corners are split as well, and the canvas has gone slack.

    • The artwork is a double-sided canvas painting that required careful support during surface cleaning and varnish removal.

    • Losses on the verso painting required consolidation.

    • The verso also had a thick layer of surface dust and grime.

    • The painting and frame received treatment.

    • The painting

      • Pre-treatment examination, solubility testing, and photo documentation were performed. Photographs were taken under normal, UVF, and infrared light.

      • The recto and verso were gently brushed and vacuumed to remove loose surface dirt and dust.

      • The discolored varnish was removed using a combination of Evolon-CR poultices, cotton swabs, and acetone. A rigid support was placed on the verso to support the paint layers and canvas. Care was taken during varnish removal to use as little pressure as possible due to the lifted paint on the verso. However, a few small losses on a verso occurred (which were returned to their original positions).

      • The lifted paint on the verso was consolidated. Due to the thickness of the paint layer, lifted paint was not able to relax into its original position.

      • The losses were able to be returned to their original position using 7% sturgeon glue in deionized water. Sturgeon glue was initially tested for its tack and because it is heated; it was hoped the use of heat would help relax the lifted paint. Although the paint layers were too thick to relax, the adhesive successfully secured the lifted paint.

        • Later in the treatment, one additional loss occurred unexpectedly, and Lascaux Medium for Consolidation was used out of expediency and for its low viscosity.

      • The verso was surface cleaned using saliva on cotton swabs and cleared using deionized water.

      • Inserts were made using Pe-Cap and BEVA 371b film to partially mend the tears. The Pe-Cap was toned using Golden PVA Paint to appear like the underlying stretcher. The adhesive film was adhered to the Pe-Cap and then cut to shape. The inserts were attached to the verso using a tacking iron heated between 65C-90C depending on the thickness of the area being heated. Silicone release mylar was placed between the painting and stretcher bar to prevent the adhesive from attaching to the stretcher. Any BEVA film left visible had toned Pe-Cap cut to its shaped and adhered to prevent the adhesive from imbibing dirt and dust.

      • A padded backing board was created using polyester batting covered in silk habotai (10mm) using Gutterman 100% polyester thread. The silk casing will prevent any potential snags/breakages of the verso paint layer caused by the polyester batting. The padding was cut into an octagonal shape to accommodate the stretcher keys. The encased polyester batting was attached to archival blueboard using 100% cotton embroidery thread. This method avoids the use of any adhesives that may off-gas or age poorly.

      • The painting was not varnished. In consultation with Bart Devolder, Chief Conservator and Karl Kusserow, John Wilmerding Curator of American Art, it was decided to leave the painting unvarnished for the following reasons: It is not clear whether the painting was originally varnished; future research may dictate a varnish is appropriate (or not) and not varnishing the painting now leaves both options possible. A matte surface is appropriate for a high-key palette, as varnish is generally applied to enhance a wider tonal range. Varnish removal did not negatively impact the appearance of the original paint.

      • The loose stretcher key was secured by gently hammering it into place.

      • The verso tear repair residue visible on the recto was inpainted using Golden PVA paint.

      • After treatment documentation photographs were taken under normal light (recto and verso) and UVF (recto).

    • The frame:

      • Fish glue and a clamp system were used to treat the split on the frame rabbet.

      • Felt tape was installed to prevent the painting being abraded from contact with the frame rabbet.

      • Golden PVA paint was used to visually integrate the distracting losses.

  • This project was fun and interesting because my research into the artist and conservation history significantly affected my approach to treatment.

    This project was the first double-sided painting I have treated and presented unique structural challenges.

    Early modern paintings like this one interest me because I enjoy learning about unusual techniques or materials.

Before and After Treatment

  • This is the way the painting will appear on exhibit in the new museum.

Examination / Condition

  • This image shows the painting overall before treatment. When Bart and I went to view this Lawson painting in storage, we were surprised and pleased to discover a dog painting on the reverse.

  • If the dog painting is by Lawson, it is an unusual subject for him – I was not able to find any other examples of his work I could remotely compare to it. - What Lawson is known for are landscapes and semi-urban scenes on the outskirts of the New York City, where he moved in 1898 during a time of urbanization. He lived in Washington Heights, a Manhattan neighborhood that had been mostly rural during the 19th-century but had begun to be developed during his time there.

  • Morning Mists is one of the more unusual paintings I have ever examined. The stratigraphy of the verso contains 8 layers, multiple of which are paint. The only ground layer on the entire canvas is on the reverse. The recto image is painted directly on the canvas. Strangest of all, there is newsprint between two paint layers, although the extent to which it covers the painting is not known.

  • The many paint layers are likely the reason the painting has been tacked on the recto to the stretcher bar and the reason that, over time, the canvas has split and gone slack.

  • The painting had a discolored varnish that negatively impacted the tonal range of the artwork and needed to be removed. In researching the artist and examining the painting, I found myself concerned about the varnish removal and potential issues of revarnishing. Whether Lawson wanted this painting to be varnished is not known. Many, but certainly not all, American artists by the turn of the 20th century had been influenced the French Impressionists and left their paintings unvarnished and matte. Lawson had studied in Paris at the Academie Julian and was likely aware of the varnish discourse. The varnish on Morning Mists was evenly applied overall, after the painting had been stretched, as evidenced by drips of varnish in the tacking margins. Only one campaign of varnish was distinctly visible.

  • In researching the artist, I discovered he often reworked his paintings post-exhibition. In the 1990 AIC Postprints publication, Serena Urry, then a paintings conservator at the Detroit Institute of Arts (or DIA), shared her experience treating an Ernest Lawson painting, Winter (formally known as Trees in Blossom). In the article, she describes the difficulty of removing discolored varnish due to additional layers of varnish existing between the paint layers. Winter had been bought directly from the artist by the DIA in 1923. The painting was originally exhibited as Trees in Blossom at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh in 1920 where it had been varnished. In the intervening years, what was once a spring landscape was reworked into a winter scene on top of the varnish layer by the artist while it was in its frame. Serena Urry studied other examples of his work and found additional examples of interlayer varnish.

  • The dog portrait on the verso does not have an overall varnish layer, but some of the paint appears to contain a natural resin, based on the greenish fluorescence you see under ultraviolet light. There is also a layer of varnish beneath the dog painting fluorescing within in the drying cracks across the background.

Treatment

  • After learning about the potential for interlayer varnish, I cautiously began removing the varnish after careful testing, using Evolon poultices with acetone. The process, surprisingly, went very smoothly. The paint beneath the varnish was in very good condition, and I saw no signs of interlayer varnish. 

  • For the structural repair, I did not want to edgeline or restretch it due to the verso painting, not to mention a time limit (my internship was only 8 weeks). In consultation with conservator Laura Hartman, I chose to make small mends using PeCap (a high-strength monofilament textile) lined with Beva-film, which I toned using Golden PVA paints.

  • To further support the slack canvas, I created a padded backing board. The padding was lined with silk to prevent snagging on the dog painting. All the attachments were made using cotton or polyester thread to prevent any potential off-gassing by adhesives.

  • I performed a minor amount of inpainting, mostly on the frame, using Golden PVA Conservation paint.