ART CONSERVATION DEPARTMENTUNIVERSITY OF DELAWARE

REPORT OF EXAMINATION AND PROPOSED TREATMENT

ARTIST: John Calvin StevensTITLE: Autumn LandscapeDIMENSIONS: 17" x 21" x 3/4"INSCRIPTIONS and LABELS:

Recto:None

Verso:"#12"

Graphite, on top stretcher bar 112" from top edge, 3 3/4" from left edge.

"Back of Armstrong's/Near Cape Cottage 11916"Graphite, on back of canvas 8 112" from top edge,S 1/4" from left edge.

"John Kalvin Stevens 19161Alice C Grant's - Grandfather"Ink, on bottom stretcher bar 15 114"from top edge, 12 1/4" from left edge.

OWNER: WinterthurlUD Program in Art ConservationIDENTIFYING NUMBER: GACP 1329EXAMINED BY: Susan Richardson, September-October 2010

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DESCRIPTION:General Description:

This oil painting depicts an autumnal landscape painted in an impressionistic style withvisible brushstrokes. In the foreground there are loosely painted brush and bushes invarious deep greens, oranges, reds, and dark violets. In the middle ground, from thecenter to the center right, there are four bare white birch trees, to either side of a beechtree in full autumn orange-gold.' In the background, there are numerous other trees withleaves in various fall colors, including yellow greens, oranges and dark greens. Thetrunks are variously depicted in black, dark brown and dark blue. The sky is a mediumgray-blue, and occupies the upper left corner.

This painting is in poor condition. It appears to have been damaged by water, causinglarge areas of loss in the paint and ground layers. Some of these losses have beenconsolidated, but until further work is done the painting is currently unstable.

Support:The stretcher is a commercial mitered stretcher, 1 3/4" wide. There is a tape residuemark on the right stretcher bar, 5 3/4" x 1 5/8" in size. The stretcher is in good conditionaside from a few minor abrasions, and is stable.

The tacks are between two and three inches apart on the edges of the stretcher, and theirheads measure 3116". Along the top and side corresponding to the areas of loss in thepaint layer, the tacks exhibit a small amount of rust. In other areas, the tacks are in goodcondition, with no signs of rust. All of the tacks are stable.

The canvas is yellowish in color, with a few slubs and a darker horizontal band extendingthe entire width of the painting. The color of the canvas and the presence of a few slubsare both indicative of a moderately high quality linen canvas.i and the presence of groundall the way to the edges ofthe canvas, with none on the stretcher, indicates a pre-primedcanvas?

The canvas is in good condition aside from some minor staining associated with the waterdamage, and is stable. When viewed by transmitted light from the verso, the canvas has afairly open weave. It was not possible to take a thread count, as stability issues in thepaint layer prevent the painting being laid on its face.2 However, once the paint layer hasbeen stabilized, this should be done.

Ground and Paint Layers:The ground layer was evenly applied and is pale cream in color. It is in fair condition,and stable. In the areas of image loss, the ground layer has cleaved away, leaving achalky residue in the interstices of the canvas. However, there is no sign of cleavage in

1Ryan Murphy, instant message, September 8, 2010.2 Tatiana Ausema, conversation, September 22, 2010.

other areas of the painting. The ground layer on the left tacking edge has a line of rustdeposits from the tacks.

The paint was applied unevenly, in a spontaneous manner. This is most visible intransmitted light from the verso, as areas of thicker impasto are less translucent than thethinner areas. The colors appear evenly saturated. In many areas, particularly the leaveson the trees in the foreground, there is no blending with the paint behind it, indicating thatthe lower layer was dry when the upper layer was applied, and therefore the painting wascompleted in at least two stages.

The paint layer is in poor condition and is unstable. There is a large area of active flakingand loss concentrated along the left side, top left comer and along the top. The area ofloss extends inward from the right edge about 3 7/8" at the top, narrowing to 3/4" at thebottom, and extends the whole length of the painting. Along the top edge, the paint lossextends for approximately 123/4", and extends downward from the top edgeapproximately 3 1/2" near the comer, narrowing to approximately 1/4" at the end oftheloss. Roughly 80% of this area is lost, with the remaining 20% predominantlyconcentrated in the comer. This loss has been partially consolidated, some areas withBEVA 371/ and some areas with a consolidant that is brown and glossy and soluble insaliva: characteristics of a hide glue."

There are a number of pinpoint losses scattered through the paint layer, and some shallowscratches no more than 1 112"in length. The paint layer is lightly abraded near the edges,and in front of the top of the stretcher bar. There is also a small crescent-shaped dentnear the right edge.

Surface Coating and Accretions:Under ultraviolet light, the painting fluoresces an uneven green indicative of a naturalresin varnish. The fluorescence is much brighter in background areas, especially the skyand surrounding the trees in the background. There is a dark band around the lower andright edges, and a small dark line corresponding with the top edge of the bottom stretcherbar. These dark areas correspond with light abrasions on the surface of the paint,indicating that the varnish layer has also been abraded. The varnish layer has been lost inthe areas where the paint layer has flaked off. The facts that the varnish is concentratedin the background, and that foreground areas painted in the second phase do not have thisvarnish, indicate that the varnish layer may be a retouching varnish applied by theoriginal artist. 5

Dried water droplets and a gray haze of grime are scattered over the surface. These aresoluble in saliva.

3 Claire Curran, Condition report, 2009.4 Tatiana Ausema, conversation, September 22, 2010.5 Joyce Hill Stoner, conversation, October 20, 2010.

PROPOSAL FOR TREATMENT:

1. Document and photograph the condition of the painting.

2. Continue the consolidation of areas of active loss to stabilize the paint layer.Claire Curran has already stabilized part of the paint layer with BEV A 371,6

which has worked well so far; this approach should be continued.

3. Clean paint surface.Care must be taken to choose a solvent that will not dissolve the varnish andundercut the second paint layer. Claire Curran has previously cleaned about athird of the paint surface with TEA 1% citrate solution with a pH of 7. She thencleared it with saliva." This has done a satisfactory job without damaging thevarnish or paint layer. The same approach can be continued.

4. Fill areas of loss.Fill losses with Modostuc, a reversible acrylic putty.

S. Inpaint losses.Inpaint losses using a reversible conservation paint, such as GamblinConservation Paints, or Golden PVA Colors, to restore visual unity to thepainting.

6. Frame the painting.Although no information is available about the frames preferred by the artist forhis own paintings, two of the artists he was associated with (Winslow Homer andD. A. Fischer) commonly used gilded frames. A gilded frame would alsocomplement the oranges and reds of the fall leaves.Winslow Homer's frames varied between the lavishly ornate and the simple.i andD.A. Fischer tended to have ornate frames.8 Therefore either a simple frame or amore ornate frame might be appropriate for this painting.

The following ideas were constructed with pictureframes.com's preview feature:

6 Claire Curran, Condition report, 2009.

7 Eli Wilner, The Gilded Edge: TheArt of the Frame (San Francisco, Chronicle Books LLC, 2000), 64, 67.

8 "D. A. Fisher (1867-1940}," accessed October 26,2010.http://artisfungallery.com/fisher.html

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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

John Calvin Stevens was born in 1855, and died in 1940.9 He was not primarily knownas a painter. Rather, Stevens was a well-regarded and prolific Maine architect. He designedmore than a thousand Shingle and Colonial Revival buildings in and around Portland."

One of his commissions was to transform Winslow Homer's stable into a living space andstudio. II After Stevens completed this commission, Homer gave Stevens a painting (The Artist'sStudio in an Afternoon Fog) depicting the newly-remodeled studio.V Although Stevens knewHomer, they worked in different styles. There little apparent similarity in their brushstroke orcolor choice.

9 "John Calvin Stevens: The Early Years," last modified September 2007.http://www.mainehomedesign.com/rotating-features/354-john-calvin-stevens-the-early-years.html

10 "John Calvin Stevens, Lucian Clark, c. 1900," accessed October 26,2010.http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=15688

11 "Winslow Homer's Studio, Prout's Neck, Maine," accessed October 26,2010.http://www.millswhitaker.com/Mills_Whitaker_Architects/Winslow_Homer_Studio.html

12 Nicolai Cikovsky, Jr. and Franklin Kelly. Winslow Homer (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995),328.

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Winslow Homer, The Artist's Studio in an Afternoon Fog, 1894

As a painter, Stevens worked in watercolors and oils. When Stevens was a young mantraining to be an architect in the offices of Francis H. Fassett, he was given a book about EnglishWatercolors.13 He was also a member of the Portland, Maine group of landscape artists calledthe "Brushians". Individually, and collectively, they never became exceptionally famous aspainters. However, they did regularly spent weekends together painting en plein air.

The Brushians in the field, c. 1900.From left: George Frederick Morse, Frank Louville Bowie, John T. Wood, John Calvin

Stevens14

13 Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. "John Calvin Stevens' Architectural Library" in American Architects and their Books,1840-1914, edited by Kenneth Hafertepe and James F. O'Gorman (Boston: University of Massachusetts Press), 216.

14 "Brushians Painting Trip ca. 1900," accessed October 26, 2010.

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Stevens's work is similar to the other artists of his group. They are all landscape artists.Their brushstrokes are generally spontaneous and painterly, using natural color. Paintings bythe other artists of his group can be seen below.

George Frederick Morse, View in Cape Elizabeth )

Frank Louville Bowie, Pillsbury Pasture, Cape Elizabeth, 191i6

http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=1568415 "George Frederick Morse - Past Auction Results," accessed October 26,2010.http://www.artnet.com/Art ists/LotDeta iIPage.aspx?1otJ d=397 BOBBE15AE4 B713 FAO15BE7C4A1978

16 "Frank Louville Bowie Oil Painting on Canvas," accessed October 26,2010.http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/2997553

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""----.-------------- •.••.•--""17""""' •••••.•.••- ••••"'_~;.....JIJohn T. Wood, Maine Landscape, 1908

17 "John T. Wood (1845-1919)," accessed October 26,2010.http://www.askart.com/aska rt/w /joh n_t_wood/joh n_t_wood .aspx

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If the proposed treatment as outlined above is satisfactory. please sign below. Thank you.

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Debra Hess ~rr~s for WUDP AC date

11/17/d-,O fO

Susan Richardson, Conservation Intern date

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