Dalibando Margarita — restorer of the highest category, the State Historical Museum, Head of the restoration workshop.
E-mail: margodalibando@yandex.ru

Zolotarev Dmitry — restorer of the second category, the State Historical Museum, artist-restorer.
E-mail: macmicus@gmail.com

Among the available methods – chemical and physical – which are practiced now to reconstruct damaged images of photographic materials in archive and museum collection only the method of photographic reconstruction is completely noninvasive. It guarantees the stability of image material structure afterwards this method performing which means, in particular, no threat of thermal or photochemical degradation. Image reconstruction mentioned here does not mean the improving of digital image copy in photographic redactor computer programs but implies scientific techniques of light production and registration, especially in UV and IR spectrum. These techniques are generally accessible and have been frequently used in the heritage investigation projects, but till recent time photographic materials were underestimated as the objects of such projects. Unlike digital graphic reconstruction that gives nice iproved pictures but with the lack of authenticity in the case of scientific UV and IR image scanning we get reliable visual data so it can be declared truly documental reconstruction. Several technical advances were required to develop a scanning set proper for dealing especially with photographic objects. In this article we describe the experience of developing such a set, its properties and opportunities in archive and museum practice.

94 nanometers, chemical degradation, contactless, infrared photography, optical radiation, photographic plate, Photography, silver mirroring, silver sulfide, visualization.

Malachevskaya Elena — The State Research Institute for Restoration, chief of the Laboratory of Chemical and Technological Research
E-mail: elemal34@mail.ru

Gordyushina Valentina I.  — The State Research Institute for Restoration, senior researcher of the Laboratory of Chemical and Technological Research
E-mail: vgordiushina@mail.ru

Ivanova Anastasia — The State Research Institute for Restoration, junior researcher of Laboratory of Chemical and Technological Research
E-mail: iva_stasiya@mail.ru

The purpose of the article is to familiarize conservators and researchers dealing with this problem with international experience in conservation of archaeological items made of air-dried clay. The authors study the experience of leading museums dealing with this problem. The main attention is paid to reports on the methods of preservation of artifacts made of air-dried clay used by various museums and conservation organizations when they received archaeological objects. The methods of preservation of Babylonian tablets used at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the Berlin Asian Art Museum and the Louvre are studied, as well as methods of conservation of loess objects used at the Hermitage, GOSNIIR, the A. Donish Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, the Iranian National Museum (Tehran) are reflected. The article presents comparative characteristics of the properties of all consolidants used to strengthen clay artifacts. Studies of both natural and synthetic materials are described. The experience of the condition study of clay objects that have undergone the consolidation process is described, and the consequences of the use of various consolidating compounds are revealed. The consolidating compositions, which are currently used by the leading museums and restoration centers of the world, are given. The properties necessary for preservation of artifacts have been determined. Based on the data obtained, the further direction of work at the chemical technology laboratory of the State Research Institute for Restoration was chosen.

Air-dried clay, archeology, artifact, consolidant, firing, loess, physico-mechanical research.

Nikolaev Kirill — The State Research Institute for Restoration, Head of the Scientific Expertise Department
E-mail: kirill.pochta@mail.ru

The article considers the issue of the artistic and historical status of the “secondary” work on the example of a copy from the original painting by the workshop of the Dutch artist Jan Mostart. On the basis of this picture, the problem of the importance of studying a copy work, which allows us to judge individual moments of the existence of the original, is raised. The complex studies of the painting allowed us to obtain full-fledged data on the technical and technological features and artistic techniques of the copyist who worked in the late XVIII – early XIX centuries, apparently within the framework of the Russian painting tradition. This work deserves attention as a valuable historical artifact that records the state of the original before restoration. On the example of this work, an important theme of the significance of the old copy arises in connection with the history of the existence of the original monument. At the same time, the appearance of such a work in the field of view of an expert allows again to draw attention to the important role of the close interaction of various research methods – art criticism, technological and restoration-analytical. It is necessary to separately emphasize the importance of working with documentary sources, which in this case made it possible to reasonably explain the differences in the image of the copy and the ancient original. Thus, this work once again notes the important role of a multilateral study of a copy as a full-fledged work of art, which is at the same time a document of its time. Considering the unclear history of the existence of the museum painting until 1862, its long stay during the XIXth century in the walls of the temple, where it was used as an icon, a comparative analysis of the pictorial features of the copy and descriptions of multi-temporal renovation interventions recorded during the restoration of the painting in 1926 is of particular interest.

Art history, artwork, attribution, Dutch painting, expertise, restoration, technical and technological research.

Rebrikova Nataliya L.  — Candidate of Biological Sciences; The State Research Institute for Restoration, Head of the Biological Laboratory
E-mail: nrebrikova@rambler.ru

A long-term monitoring of the protective effect of three soluble in organic solvents and one water-diluted hydrophobizer on limestones with different water absorption was carried out, it was shown that it depends on the degree of water absorption of the treated limestone. Funcosil SNL protected limestone with a small water absorption for a longer time than limestone with a large water absorption. On blocks of weathered limestone, MSN-7 was superior to all other tested hydrophobizers. The compatibility of biocides and hydrophobizers used to protect the stone was investigated. The use of biocides from the quaternary ammonium salts (QAC) group either did not affect the protective properties of hydrophobizers, or reduced the duration of protective action. The decrease in the protective effect is determined not only by the recolonization rate of test sites and samples with algae biofilms, but also by measuring the water absorption time and the sorption rate of surface contaminants. In the areas treated with QAC: catamine AB or Capatox and after Funcosil SNL it was higher than in the areas treated only with Funcosil SNL. Surfactant treatment reduced the hydrophobic effect of Funcosil SNL on limestone with low water absorption to the level of unprotected stone. The degree of impact that the biocidal treatment had before applying the hydrophobizer depended on the solvent in the case of hydrophobizers soluble in organic solvents and on the degree of weathering of limestone. The solvent for Funcosil SNL is white spirit, for MSN-7 – toluene. If, when applying a hydrophobizer, a previously applied biocide with surface-active properties dissolves, this prevents its polymerization process. Some QAC are dissolved in aliphatic hydrocarbons.

Antifouling protection, biocides, hydrophobizers, limestone, stone monuments, water absorption algae biofilms.

Lavrentyeva Elena V. — PhD in Art History, the State Research Institute for Restoration, Research fellow of the Tempera Painting Restoration Department
E-mail: Lavrentyeva_Elena@mail.ru

The article presents the main results of a technical and technological analysis of the early Nevyansk icon, The Mother of God of Vladimir, from the collection of the Chelyabinsk State Museum of Fine Arts, which we carried out in 2020. These results proved the icon’s dating to the first half of the 18th century that had been previously proposed by the historian E. Roizman. When studying the art work under a stereoscopic microscope at 28˟ magnification, we managed to learn the stylistic mode of so-called lichnόe (painting of exposed body parts) and dolíchnoe (painting of clothing), as well as the painting stratigraphy. The article gives a detailed description of the state of preservation of the original painting, and presents the results of modern museum restoration. Also, the traces of the Old Believers renovation are revealed. In the result of our research we confirmed that The Mother of God of Vladimir was painted at the same time and in the same Old Believers workshop as another Nevyansk icon, The Mother of God of Egypt, (1734), which is hold in the Nevyansk Icon Museum in Ekaterinburg. We also made the expertise on that icon earlier, and our conclusion is based on the fact that both icons have almost identical lichnόe. The first modeling, executed with white lead, was put directly on the sankir. Then, it was completely covered with yellow ochre layer. The “construction” of the face shape was completed with white modeling. Thus, we observe alternating layers of pure white and ochre. Due to densely-applied white layers, the lichnoe modeling of the both icons gets relief, almost sculptural and tactile. Besides, other features are indisputable and confirm the simultaneous creation of the both icons in the same workshop: the set of pigments (synthetic azurite, cinnabar, white lead, red organic, red lead, ochres); the preparation of the same paint mixtures for dolichnoe; one prime composition (anhydrite); and identical processing of the wooden panels.

Attribution of icons, fine arts of the Urals, Icon-painting of Old-Believers, pigments of icon-painting, technical and technological analysis of tempera paintings.