Roll your mouse over the image above to see the difference in the painting before and after conservation!
Ship Nathaniel Thompson, artist unknown (probably Chinese in origin),
c. 1859, reverse painting on glass, 23” x 30".
Brick Store Museum Collection. Gift of Thomas E. Green, 1999. 1999.79.
As recorded by Kennebunk customs agent Seth E. Bryant in his late-nineteenth-century List of Vessels Built From 1800-1878 in the District of Kennebunk, the ship Nathaniel Thompson was one of 11 vessels launched in 1848. Built by carpenter William Cole, the Nathaniel Thompson had a tonnage of 546.44 tons. Her master was Franklin N. Thompson, and her principal owner was Abagail Titcomb. The ship bore the Thompson family’s red, black and white pennant and was first launched on January 3, 1848.
INTRODUCING THE SHIP NATHANIEL THOMPSON:
A STORY IN PAINTING CONSERVATION
Museums take seriously the stewardship and ongoing care of their collections. Many artifacts are delicate or fragile and come to museums after years of use or display. In some instances, the very materials comprising an artifact can begin to deteriorate and compromise the integrity of the piece. Such was the case with the c. 1859 painting of the Ship Nathaniel Thompson, which was donated to The Brick Store Museum in 1999.
The artwork is a reverse painting on glass, an interesting and popular artistic form dating back many centuries. Frequently appearing as miniatures or as decorative inlays for pieces like clocks, it is somewhat unusual to find a maritime themed reverse painting the size of the Ship Nathaniel Thompson. The artist’s “canvas” is the glass itself, and the artist works in reverse. Fine details—like the wording and the ship’s rigging in this painting—are applied first. Layer by layer, the image fills in, with the background sky painted last.
As such, reverse painting not only is a difficult medium but can also be inherently problematic from the standpoint of preservation. The different pigments can react with one another over time to cause discoloration and even delamination, the separation of the different layers of paint. Because of this painting’s condition, the Museum could not have the work on display. Hanging the piece would have caused further loss of paint. The artwork was kept face down in the Museum’s collections storage area until 2004, when the painting’s original donor came forward with a generous offer to fund the conservation of the piece.
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