Varnish or not?

[huntvambo]

A customer brought in a commissioned oil painting a couple of weeks ago that they wanted framing. It's a nice oil painting, on a stretched canvas 765mm x 510mm, of their rather nice house (canvas dimensions not the house ). It was signed by the artist and dated 2009.

I asked if the painting had been varnished, it didn't look like it had been but..., the customer didn't know so said they would contact the artist.

Simons supplied me with some rather expensive samples, most expensive was £38:00/m , wouldn't actually fit in the Morso

Customer came back today and chose a slightly less expensive moulding, still £27:55/m, and said they'd spoken to the artist who said it wasn't necessary to varnish her paintings and it would only spoil the appearance

So should a new oil, or acrylic for that matter, painting be varnished? It won't be glazed either. Thoughts please ladies and gents as my, limited understanding, was that you varnished, after a suitable period, to protect the paint.

Thanks in advance
Paul

[Roboframer]

Copy and paste the line below in to Google .....


should oil paintings be varnished



Questions to ask the customer

1. What you gonna clean it with when the time comes - bearing in mind that some cleaning solutions that may not harm varnish, (not that that would be the end of it), might harm paint, (which would)? (!)

2. When it comes to it - and the varnish on a varnished painting is past it through cleaning - what state's your painting gonna be in without it?

3. Whether varnished or not which would you rather do in the future

a. Have a bash at cleaning it yourself with something like Cillit Bang?

b. Pay someone to clean it?

c. Clean a piece of glass?

[mikeysaling]

how about medals! they WILL tarnish unless you can take em out of the frame - what do you do?

[prospero]

If the artist says "Don't varnish it", then don't.

[huntvambo]

If the artist says "Don't varnish it", then don't.

That's my feelings as well Prospero but the customer is not the artist and I just want to offer the customer the best advice, they can take it or leave it but I'll have done my bit and I'll make a note on the invoice that varnishing or glazing were not required

[gorillalipstick]

There are a number of aspects to this question.

First of all if you choose to varnish, the traditional natural resin based varnishes such as mastic and copal are now largely discredited from a conservation viewpoint due to yellowing, cracking and difficulty in removal over time. Modern conservation grade varnishes such as those made by Liquitex (Soluvar) and Golden (MSA) are now widely used by museums. A visit to each of these companies excellent web-sites will provide you with a good deal of useful quality information on the topic.

Secondly should you varnish. This will always be a matter of judgement but perhaps the easiest to answer is for acrylic paintings where the main body of opinion is that they should be varnished. Acrylic paint dries on evaporation of water and the final stages of this process leave the surface porous. This will trap dirt and grime very easily and also acrylic has a tendency to develop tack in warm and humid conditions which will further attract dirt and also present handling issues. Modern varnishes (such as those noted above) will largely deal with these issues and also provide UV protection for pigments.

With regard to oil paintings this is less clear cut. The argument for varnishing was much stronger in more polluted environments, when more people smoked in the home and when more homes had open coal fires. The balance of judgement here is more towards the aesthetic as any varnish coating will undoubtedly affect the surface finish. I imagine that is the concern the artist is expressing here. If you make a visit to any major collection of modern art you will see instances of paintings being varnished, being not varnished and sometimes being presented behind glass.

It's a fine judgement call by the artist and owner balancing the above and some other considerations.

Not an easy one but I hope this assists.

[prospero]

I have over the years varnished many oils, but only on the request of the artist or on old paintings of no value. I would never give a customers painting a coat just because I thought it needed it. And then I use retouching varnish which just evens the finish rather than provides protection. This is soluble in White Spirit and can be removed easily, rather than using powerful solents such as Acetone.

There is more to varnishing paintings than meets the eye. There is a definite knack to it and each painting is different. It's not just a case of slapping a few coats on by any means. I have seen many paintings that have been over-varnished and devloped the toffee-apple'' look. Toooooo glossy.
And what you have to consider is that varnishing formes an integral part of the painting. The artist may not want the painting to be altered in any way. So fundementally, you have changed it. It's not like putting glass on top. You can take that off at any time. Removing varnish is not an easy job.

So the moral is: Don't be too eager to varnish paintings.

[mikeysaling]

I think the moral here - reinforced by many of you - is only do what the customer asks for , by all means recommend, but never go out on a 'crusade/limb' . In the medal framing business we come across a lot of strange requests - most common being order of precedence - have had many old soldiers saying 'well, thats as maybe - but THAT one is the most important to me!' We do as instructed frame wise , but are very careful when supplying replicas etc .

[Moglet]

a. Have a bash at cleaning it yourself with something like Cillit Bang?

Hat's off to you, John. That has to be one of your best lines. Ever!

[prospero]

Aren't there some silly names for household cleaners nowadays?

What's wrong with good old Ajax? (Or Vim at a push)

[Nigel Nobody]

a. Have a bash at cleaning it yourself with something like Cillit Bang??

"Cillit Bang"???
Is this an Indonesian relative of the President "Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono"???

[Roboframer]

Not sure, but I knew a guy that drank some; he went clean round the bend!