Art restoration of gorgeous American portrait painting of artist's family in 1906. This important painting belongs to the Springville Museum of Art.

1. Art Conservation – Restoration Treatments on
“The Artist’s Wife and Daughters”
by William Sargent Kendall
by Oriana Montemurro, Art Conservator
William Sergeant Kendall was a talented, well thought of artist who is studied in American Art
History classes. One of the subjects he is known for is the painting of his daughters and wife. He
was aware of the growing dominance of Impressionism and modern art, but he continued
painting his family utilizing the classic influence of the 19th century. It is probable that he arrived
at this technique by observing the diffused light in canvases of Jules Bastien-Lepage, whose
work he admitted he liked.
"What we want art to do for us is to stay what is fleeting. Immortalize the things that have no
duration," John Ruskin wrote in Stones of Venice. In large part, that is what has led Americans to
rediscover the art of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when artists believed that
legitimate art could be created from the descriptive portrayal of families and neighborhoods.
In this photograph is the oil painting by Kendall
titled, “The Artist’s Wife and Daughters” (60” x
40” without the frame) which was consigned to
FACL by the Springville Museum of Art in
Springville, Utah for art conservation – restoration
treatments.
When we received this very lovely large painting
in our facility the grime, the discolored varnish
and the extensive craquelure were distracting the
viewer’s eye from the composition and beauty of
the painting.
Grime and discolored varnish make a painting
look dull and flat. In addition, the yellowed
varnish causes an optical shift in the colors: pinks
disappear, purples turn to brown, blues morph into
greens and reds look more orange. With these
kinds of color shifts, you can imagine how far
from the original intent of the artist a yellowed
varnish can alter a painting! In the case of this
painting, the delicate skin tone colors were
drastically shifted. The gray grime combined with
the yellowed varnish causes the painting to lose
depth of field and contrast making the composition look more like a two dimensional poster.
The severe cracking patterns disturbed the harmonic reading of the composition. In this case, the
painting had not begun to flake yet, but cracking on paintings, in general, eventually leads to this
condition. This painting was, however, in an advanced stage of cracking and the deformations
made it very hard to enjoy Kendall’s genius.

2. A careful cleaning of the gray film and the removal of
the old varnish revealed the original colors of the artist
and gave the painting back its classic look. The cracking
patterns and distortions (cupping) were treated with a
lining, an extra support on the back of the painting,
giving more strength to the original canvas to hold down
flat the cracks.
The art conservation work done on this painting was
guided by a respect for the artist’s intent with colors and
painting techniques. No color was removed during
cleaning and no original brush strokes were flattened or
damaged in any way. The surface of the painting, after
the art conservation treatments, was as the artist
intended.
To see a short time lapse video of cleaning a painting,
click on this link to go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IyjI3rgCcF0 Leave a
comment and click on the THUMBS UP!
“The Artist’s Wife and Daughters” is part of the
permanent collection at the Springville Museum of Art, Utah’s first museum for the visual fine
arts. Dedicated as a “Sanctuary of Beauty and a Temple of Contemplation” by David O. McKay,
the museum houses nearly 3,000 works; 2,000 of which are Utah art. Twentieth Century
Russian-Soviet Socialist Realism, an impressive collection of 150 years of Utah fine art, and
American Realist art comprise the permanent collection. The museum is a key promoter and
contributor to the arts in Utah, with over 15 exhibitions annually. For more information on this
painting go to the Springville Museum of Art website at
http://springvilleartmuseum.org/collections/browse.html?x=artist&artist_id=75
We at FACL are going to miss having this painting in the lab when we return it to the
museum. Every detail of this painting is done with wonderful quality and the expressions
on the faces of the wife and daughters were good company. You can sit and look at this
painting for a long time.
For a news article featuring Scott M. Haskins’s, Click here:
http://www.fineartconservationlab.com/media-room/art-restorerconservator-scott-m-
haskins-featured-in-life-section-of-newspaper/
For art conservation and painting restoration questions call Scott M. Haskins 805 564 3438
or faclartdoc@gmail.com
For art appraisal questions call Richard Holgate at 805 895 5121 or jrholgate@yahoo.com

3. See short videos by Scott M. Haskins on art conservation related subjects at YouTube
channel “Bestartdoc” http://www.youtube.com/user/bestartdoc?feature=mhee
See short do-it-yourself videos on collection care and emergency preparedness for art
collectors, family history items, heirlooms, memorabilia at Youtube Channel
“preservationcoach” http://www.youtube.com/user/preservationcoach
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Scott M. Haskins
About the author: Oriana Montemurro is from Turin, Italy and has been working in the
field of painting conservation since 1998. She was invited to come to the US and work
with Fine Art Conservation Laboratories (FACL, Inc.) in 2009.