Elaine Martin has many years experience in the cleaning of watercolours, etchings & engravings and is happy to undertake work from private clients, galleries, local museums and institutions. Dan Martin specialises in the refurbishment of period picture frames, together with bespoke conservation mounting & framing. Please contact the gallery with your queries and problems.

Old watercolours, etchings and engravings are often spoilt by unsightly brown marks and spots. These can be caused by a number of things but the two major elements that come to bear on condition relate to the paper on which the work has been executed and the circumstances in which they have been hung. The quality of the paper has varied from the days when it was hand-made to the post industrial revolution days, when paper was produced by a machine. The most obvious and recurrent condition that is encountered is 'foxing'. This is a single or multiple brown spot that presents itself irrespective of the colour washes on the paper. These spots are often not noticed when they occur in the brown foliage of a landscape but on the other hand, can pepper the sky of a nice marine painting in such a way as to suggest a massive aerial bombardment in the Blitz!

These spots have nothing to do with the artist and his execution of the watercolour on the paper but they are to do with the paper itself. Microscopically small particles of metal have entered the pulp before production or have been introduced into the paper from the machinery manufacturing it. Micro-organisms in the air are attracted to these metallic particles and over a prolonged period of time, given the appropriate humidity and temperature, they happily grow and multiply into a 'fox' spot. A larger spot simply reflects the longer growth period of the organisms and it has been known for the largest of 'fox' spots to have a secondary mould growth. The worst outbreaks of 'foxing' can severely disfigure the watercolour painting but the attention of a professional and competent restorer to clean the work will produce dramatic results in not only eliminating the 'foxing' but also surface cleaning the paper of any dust or grime.

Apart from the problems of 'foxing', many old watercolours suffer from unsightly browning throughout the image (see example right). This condition is nearly always due to acid migration over many years from the low-grade acidic backing board to which the artwork is adhered. There must be countless thousands of 'once sparkling' images in existence deserving the work of the expert restorer.