Death of St Joseph, nineteenth-century panel, ghent, belgium.
There are many pieces of glass missing from this panel. The lead is also brittle and corroded and the conservation solution depends on its future use.
This panel is one of a series which had been stored badly for fifty years. It was suffering from multiple glass breaks, some of the glass had been lost, and the lead was severely corroded. In the breaks where I had all pieces of glass, the entire piece was edge-bonded back together using Araldite 2020 (see Mary’s head). New glass was cut for the areas where the original glass was missing, mostly in the borders and the canopy.
Detail for the missing face was sketched on paper after researching the artist’s other facial work of saints and a decision was made to minimise painted detail for ethical reasons and to retain authenticity.
Mary’s head, edge-bonded. Damage can be seen on the large image.
An extreme option for an infill of Joseph's face (original piece lost) after a study of the artist’s style.
Painting a new canopy - the trace lines and silver stain have been applied to all pieces of glass. The two side pieces of glass have the shading applied (still to be completed on the top two).