Clean an Antique Painting
The beauty of an antique painting will be seen by generations to come depending on the way the painting is cared for, maintained and cleaned. There is actually no perfectly safe way to clean an antique painting and the cleaning or restoration of an antique painting requires extreme detail, expertise and much patience.
Instructions
1. Trust only an experienced antique painting restorer with the cleaning of an antique painting. If the painting is of museum quality, references should be asked for and checked before any agreements are made to start the cleaning process. Even an expert in this field will go through a process of trial and error to determine what the painting consists of, what type of oils, water paints, vegetable colors, liquids and resins may have been mixed in. The goal is to carefully remove the dirt without disturbing the actual pigments of the painting.
2. Decide if you want to try to clean the antique painting yourself. It may not be museum quality or the age hasn't been determined. If so, proceed with care and caution. Take the painting out of the frame. Check the surface of the canvas to see if it has a tight surface that will not let cracks in. This needs close examination, more than just a normal visual look over. If the surface appears alright, then test an extremely tiny spot with a very mild soap and water, dabbed on with a soft clean cloth. Do not submerge a painting in water and do not rub the painting. This is a slow process to do correctly. Let the painting air dry in a cool dry room away from direct sunlight for several days before reframing. This method may help clean an antique painting that has only an accumulation of dust, dirt or household grease.
3. Remove the varnish that has turned dark due to age or dirt accumulation. This is much more difficult to do. Leave this process to an expert restorer in cleaning antique paintings. The expert will determine how or if the varnish can be removed to clean and restore the painting without disturbing the actual pigments of the paint. Again, a very small area will be tested with a solvent before slowly and carefully removing the varnish from the rest of the antique painting.
4. Use a mixture of half turpentine and half alcohol gently dabbed with a clean cloth in a cautious manner for cleaning a good percentage of antique paintings. This mixture will remove the varnish. Find the right balance between your alcohol and turpentine before moving too quickly to clean your painting. The alcohol is the solvent and the turpentine is used as the slowing agent in your mixture, so add more or less of each to get the right balance. Check your cloth after every dab and if the paint color is coming off, then add a bit more turpentine. Allow the painting to air dry for several days in a cool dry room away from direct sunlight.
5. Apply a fresh coat of mastic varnish (check with an art supply store) to the antique painting. This is a soluble varnish, which can be removed more easily in the future for extensive cleaning or restoration. This new coat of varnish should be allowed to dry completely according to the directions of the product used, but at least a week before reframing.
