We were so gratified to complete this restoration of Edgar Boeve’s painting of The Last Supper.  The painting came in with  several holes through the paint film and into the burlap below, along with many issues of contamination on the paint surface.  It was hard to know how affecting the final results would be with this powerful interpretation of the Last Supper.  The color uniquely serves in heightening our experience of this pivotal scene with the apostles.  The expressions and the attitudes of each figure became so much more discernible once the loss and damage had been addressed.  The painting is part of the collection of the community of LaGrave CRC church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Historical Note: Edgar Boevé has been dubbed as the “Face of Art” for Calvin College. Boevé was born in 1929 in Marshalltown, Iowa. Boevé helped developed Calvin College’s art department in the late 1950s. He lived with his parents in parsonages in Grand Rapids, Louisiana, and Ridgewood, New Jersey where hegraduated from Eastern Christian High School and later from Franklin School of the Arts in New York City. He also graduated from Calvin College and the University of Michigan. Boevé married Ervina Van Dyke in 1955 and joined her on the faculty of Calvin College in 1958. They collaborated on many theater productions together.  An artist himself, Boevé created religious art for over 70 years, using a variety of mediums. His distinctive artwork has been commissioned for Christian high schools and churches as well as displayed in numerous art galleries. In 2018, Edgar and Ervina were honored with the establishment of The Edgar and Ervina Endowment for the Arts for the Calvin Theological Seminary. Boevé was the first president of Christians in the Visual Arts (CIVA). His book on art education as well as numerous devotional books were published by the Calvin Theological Seminary. Boevé was a professor of art emeritus and remained active in the art community until his death in 2019.

This flight control panel was used by the client’s father during WWII. Unfortunately the corner molding has suffered some losses, and there is a heavy accumulation of dirt particulates.

The front and reverse will be carefully cleaned. As you can see, the front has several types of materials, along with different textures, and this will require some problem-solving as to determining which cleaning agents to use, but we don’t expect that to be too challenging. The neat part is that we’re going to incorporate an audio device on the back, and with a touch of one of the buttons, we’ll have it play recordings that the client has of her father actually using this flight panel. Stay tuned for more …

This wonderful oil on panel has a period Dutch frame that unfortunately has a number of problems and will need a full restoration. Those problems include ornamentation falling off, corners pulled apart, areas with lost gilding, and improper spacing that is strenuous for the painting.

Casts will be prepared to redo the ornamentation, and the corners re-joined. Where the gesso was lost, new gesso will be applied. Back-up will be added to allow the painting to sit with greater freedom, and the epoxy on the panel will be removed,  and the cupping and cracking existent there, will be repaired with a combination of restorer adhesives.

The painting has a varnish that has aged into a milky color. It will need to be removed, which will be more challenging than usual. Early tests have revealed a wonderful touch of white in the varnish that the artist used to mimic snow. Shellac also landed on the paint surface and left splotches. These will be carefully removed.

We discovered a signature behind the rabbet and are in the process of identifying it.