Cleaning:
Egg Tempera Panel Painting
Artist Nikolas Lokhoff's early 20th century gilded egg tempera panel painting was donated to the University of Delaware from the Harvard Art Museum.
The section of the panel mentioned here, including the report, was completed as a group including Hannah Covel, Sydney Cole, and Sammi Levine (me).
I completed examination and cleaning of the center portion of the panel. We tested different chelator solutions for aqueous cleaning. Ultimately, we used 1:4 and 1:8 EDTA:DI water solutions. From the cleaning tests, we determined the blue and red pigments to be the most sensitive, so these areas were left mainly untouched to avoid lifting pigment.
Example of lifted pigment during cleaning test.
Me beginning to clean the painting with dry methods, using a sponge to pick up loose debris.
(Photo taken by Hannah Covel)
During aqueous cleaning:
Right side and middle of the dog completed compared to the not yet cleaned left side.