Elizabeth Glander
Summer 2025
National Gallery of Art
Supervised by Molly Hughes-Hallett and Brianna Weakley
Molly is the Project Conservator
Brianna is the Project Fellow
Grant funded by the Getty Foundation's Conserving Canvas Initiative.
The Nebulae
Robert Winthrop Chanler
1929
Oil (est.) on canvas
6 panel painted screens
61.2 x 243.5 x 2.4 cm (individual panels)
2015.19.56
National Gallery of Art
Side A
Image Credit: NGA
Side B
Image Credit: NGA
This painting consists of six panels. Each panel has a wooden strainer with two horizontal members. Each strainer has two canvases stretched onto it with tacks to secure the canvas to the strainer. Each panel is about 8-feet tall by 2-feet wide. The canvases have been commercially primed with a grey ground and an additional white preparatory layer on top. It is presumed to be oil paint and there is no artist applied coatings.
The condition report and treatment proposal were written by Molly Hughes-Hallett and Brianna Weakly prior to my internship. In summary, the painting had an overall layer of surface grime. There are 114 total number of tears throughout both sides of all six panels. Some of these tears had been previously mended with paper tape and then the tape was painted over, both of which were old and discolored at this point. The exact cause of the tears is unknown.
Robert Winthrop Chanler (1873-1930)
Image Credit: Wikipedia
Robert Winthrop Chanler (1873-1930)
Chanler was born on February 22, 1873 in New York, NY. While in Europe in 1893, Chanler decided he wanted to become an artist. At this time, Chanler began studying art in Rome and Paris. In 1911, Chanler moved back to New York City where he lived and had his studio in a double townhouse he called the "House of Fantasy."
Professionally, Chanler identified himself as an interior decorator and decorative artist. His art pulls the viewer into a myriad of wolds with iconography from Northern European Renaissance art, Asian and Egyptian influences, mythology, and early 20th-century French cinema. For Chanler, fantasy prevailed over reality. His art works were nearly all in private collections and his works are meant to be viewed by the owners, not the masses. It is because of this reason that Chanler became less known after his death as the years went by.
Thread-By-Thread Tear Mending
Thread-by-thread tear mending was pioneered by Winfried Heiber (1938-2009) in the early 1980's. Now, Petra Demuth continues to travel the world and teach workshops in this technique. Under magnification, the thread ends are individually realigned and bonded together according to the original weave structure of the canvas. If done correctly, this technique will restore the mechanical properties and the appearance of the canvas. Once completed, mends can be invisible.
Practice Mends
Prior to completing mends on the painting, I created practice mends. This allowed me to gain experience using the different types of joins and adhesives commonly used. Each practice mend consisted of either a butt join or an overlapping intermingling join.
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Practicing thread-by-thread tear mending.
Image Credit: Dina Anchin
Testing Strength
Once all practice mends had been created, I clamped each one to a table and attached a bag on the other end. Then weights were slowly added until each mend broke.
Practicing thread-by-thread tear mends before testing.
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Adding weights to a bag attached to the practice mends to determine how strong each was.
Image Credit: Brianna Weakly
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Practicing thread-by-thread tear mending after testing.
Adhesive
Join Type
Weight When Mend Broke
9:1 Lineco:Methyl Cellulose
Butt Join
Unknown - broke when attaching to table.
20:1
25% Sturgeon Glue:Arbocel Cellulose Fibers
Butt Join
1/2 break = 2.29 lbs
Full break = 3.05 lbs
9:1 Lineco:Methyl Cellulose
Overlap Intermingled Join
6.89 lbs
1:1
20% Sturgeon Glue:13% Wheat Starch Paste in Water
Aka Heiber Adhesive
Overlap Intermingled Join
8.91 lbs
Tears
I was assigned two tears to complete thread-by-thread tear mending. The larger tear was about 11 cm long and the smaller tear was about 1.2 cm long. All of the fibers were fluffy and brittle. The brittleness may be from the fact that they are located near a strainer member and the acidity from the wood migrated into the canvas, causing some brittleness.
The longer tear was about 11cm long.
The smaller tear was about 1.2cm long.
The two different tensioning systems for the tears. The large tear is on the left and the small tear is on the right.
Mending Method
It was the hopes that I could mend these tears with the Heiber adhesive (1:1 20% sturgeon glue:13% wheat starch paste in water) and overlapping intermingling joins. However, the threads were too brittle and the way they had broken meant that I had to weave in new threads and secured them with the Heiber adhesive.
I was able to finish thread-by-thread tear mending on the small tear; my internship ended before I could complete the large tear.
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The large tear, partially completed.
The small tear, completed.