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Housing and photographic restoration of the Botanists portrait collection

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Housing

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The item is removed carefully from the original envelope.

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First, any loose dust is blown away using a rubber bulb syringe,

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then both sides are cleaned with a soft bristle brush, applying no pressure whatsoever to the surface.

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The location is marked in pencil on the original, and the item is then placed in a preservation-quality envelope.

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Restoration of glass plate negatives

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First, the plate is observed under a horizontal beam of light, on both sides; the characteristics of the item — and any damage — are recorded on a special chart.

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In this instance, inspection reveals the presence of silver mirroring and traces of graphite.

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The glass side is cleaned with a solution of surfactants in water to remove surface dirt (such as dust and grease).

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The emulsion side is cleaned with solvent, which can help to reduce the visual impact of the silver mirroring at least in part.

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The plate is dusted off with an antistatic brush, housed in a suitable four-fold enclosure, and placed in a preservation-quality box.

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In this instance the plate is broken and has been patched up with adhesive tape to keep the pieces together.

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The adhesive has degraded, and the tape must first be peeled away dry from both sides.

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The next step is to take a strip of adhesive tape with a backing material and a type of glue suitable for contact with photographic material, and prepare a number of small transparent sticking plasters that will not show up in prints; these are applied to the glass side only, and will hold the fragments together.

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Restoration of positives

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Here are some positive photographic prints that have been mounted in frames.

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The problems created by poor preservation are immediately clear from the type of mounting: not only is the material unsuitable, but there is a lack of uniformity in the supports utilized.

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All the photographs restored were in general dirty, with clearly visible traces of dust, insect droppings, and in some cases larvae, which were also found on the backing materials.

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First, the dirt is removed from all of the materials; the prints, in particular, are cleaned using a Wishab sponge.

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In this instance the item is a crayon photo, and must be dusted even more gently so as not to remove the charcoal retouches.

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The photograph is remounted in the original frame with the addition of a preservation-quality passe-partout to ensure that the photograph remains detached from the glass.

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In this instance the photograph is mounted on two different cardboard backing pieces, which are retained, and there is a good deal of silver mirroring in evidence.

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Localized cleaning is carried out to remove grease and dust, and reduce the effect of the mirroring to some extent.

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Here, the restorer is working on an image with original colouring applied by hand, which now presents widespread areas of dotted fading.

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The visual unity of the image is restored by retouching with watercolours.

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In this case the original passe-partout has been retained, and a shaped clearance space created between the image and the passe-partout with barrier paper.

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Restoration by Lorenza Fenzi
Filming by Lorisa Andreoli

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Cutting and editing by Lorisa Andreoli and Alessandra Angarano

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Script – Lorenza Fenzi
Voice – Alessandra Angarano

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Music – Farid Zehar and Bruno Chauveaux

