The Art of Painting in Chile and Restoration Technologies

10.33876/2311-0546/2022-3/209-220

Abstract

Easel oil paintings are living witnesses of their time, fragile and defenceless in the face of change and negligence. Each painter provides not only a talent’s vision of the world around them, but also information about the culture and society to which they belonged. This paper attempts to investigate a single painting in order to attribute and restore it and to preserve the cultural layer it represents for subsequent generations. The object of the study is a painting without stretcher with multiple tears and losses of the paint layer — cracks in the creases of the canvas and craquelures covering the entire surface of the work. The study revealed that the painting is by the Chilean artist Alberto Valenzuela Llanos, and is dated 1904. Dimensions of the painting — 68 cm x 59 cm. The work is unusual for Valenzuela Llanos, who painted mainly landscapes, because it is a portrait of a woman. The painting, in general, was in poor condition, with general fragility of the canvas, yellowing over the entire surface, brown oil stains, and general dust contamination. The authors carried out restoration works, allowing for further research of the painting.