This painting came from Oradea, Romania, and is believed to have been done around 1910. Unfortunately, it had been in a flood, which left it with substantial problems. The water damage created widespread craquelures and rippled the canvas across the entire surface. Lodged in the back of the canvas was a bevy of dust, wood bits, broken glass and dead insects. Restoration will take some time, but with a painting in this condition, once complete it’ll be like seeing it for the first time. If you look closely at the window, there is a structure of a building and we’re hoping to possibly be able to identify it.

Oradea’s King Ferdinand Square is dominated by the State Theater that was designed in 1900 by Austrian architects, Fellner and Hellmer, who also designed the Vienna Opera House. Eight miles from the Hungarian border, Oradea has been inhabited since 300 BC. It’s current population is around 204,000. The pesky Crisu Repede River runs through it. Flood-banks have been able to tame the river, but in 1836 a large part of the town was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt in the 18th century through the plans of Viennese engineer Franz Anton Hillebrandt following the then-trendy Austrian architectural style called Secession with its richly decorated facades of pale pink, blue, green and white. In addition to the many Baroque buildings, Oradea is known for its rich collection of Art Nouveau architecture. It is the 10th largest city in Romania.

Oredea, Romania.

Since our last post this maritime painting by Morse (1850-1921) has received a few new steps. A complete cleaning has been carried out on the surface. This lightened the color and made some of the paint and fly specks easier to see. The major and several tears were sutured from the reverse and pressed flat with blotters. We used a more substantial reline process, due to the severity of the tears. Mesh fabric, with restorer’s adhesive applied to both sides, were situated between the sutured areas and the new linen. The heat press adhered the layers under pressure and helped to flatten the surface. Next we’ll conduct another round of cleaning, and then touch up the tears with in-fill and in-painting before a final coat of conservation varnish. Stay tuned for more…

Antonio Jacobsen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, on November 2, 1850 to a family of violin makers. At an early age he enrolled at the Royal Academy of Design in Copenhagen, and studied until his family’s money ran out. At the age 18 it was compulsory for him to join the Danish military forces, but he escaped and sailed for America.

Praised for his freelance sketchwork the Marvin Safe Company commissioned him to decorate their safes. This work transitioned into commissions from sea captains and shipowners, and then into Steamship companies that wanted to record their fleet.

In 1880, he and his family moved to Hoboken, New Jersey. Jacobsen’s work was strongly desired during his lifetime and it’s estimated that he executed some 6,000 paintings. His works can be seen in most major collections of maritime art including the: Peabody Museum, Salem, MA.; The Mariners Museum, Newport News, VA.; Seaman’s Bank for Savings, etc. He died in 1921.

These two duck paintings by Arthur Schneider (1866-1942) came in with heavy contaminations of smoke and dirt particulates. Ducks Landing has a shellac covering that has turned brown and started to run. Ducks and Snipes has a few fingerprints along the right edge that appear to have been done in paint, and two significant dents in the paint canvas. Once cleaned, we expect these paintings to look significantly better; early tests have lifted significant amounts of  contaminates. Unfortunately, though, none of the steps we will need to take involves a water bath.

Born in 1866, Arthur E. Schneider was an American painter and illustrator from Madison, WI. He was best known for his landscapes and his Orientalist genre scenes depicting village streets, children and Arabs. He trained in New York City and Europe.

Schneider was to become the court painter to the Sultan of Morocco, Mulai Abd-ul-Aziz (abdelaziz of Morocco) [1878-1943]. He travelled to the country in November of 1900 and stayed until March, 1902. He took several other trips to Morocco, including one in 1905, in which he painted the Sultan’s portrait. In 1908, he built a painting studio in the Sultan’s garden. Schneider would travel with the Sultan to various cities including Tangiers and Fez, documenting the trip in watercolor sketches published by Century Magazine in 1903. The paintings were highly detailed and had a near-photographic quality, and had ironic names like “The Sultan and Play,” where the Sultan was playing pool.

Between 1905 and 1913, Schneider lived and worked in New York City. He moved around and was known to have lived and worked in Cleveland, Chicago, Tampa, FL, and Boston, MA.

He exhibited at the Salmagundi Club, American Watercolor Society, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Boston Art Club, the National Academy of Design, and the Art Club. Schneider was a member of the American Watercolor Society in New York City, the Salmagundi Club, and The Art Club.  His work is in the permanent collection of Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell, MA.

Schneider died February 7, 1942.

Running, brown shellac.

Fingerprint marks.

This painting by G.A. Kadir (1900 – N/A) came in with a very dry and delicate canvas, and a heavy contamination across the surface. Careful cleaning removed the surface contaminates and then the tent method, using steam, will re-introduce moisture. Further application of consolidates will be administered to the linen directly. These measures will make the canvas more supple and allow it to hold the paint in a forgiving manner. A few small areas have paint loss, and they will be in-painted.

This painting was a gift in WWII to a soldier who had rescued the family’s son. It has tremendous value for our client, and we are very thankful that we can, in our own small way, lend our service to it.