South Tipperary County Council
Comhairle Contae Thiobriad Árann Theas

The glass support was found to be in good condition. The painting layer exhibited signs of early degradation in the form of separation of paint from the glass support.  This distortion is caused by air – pockets (blind cleavage) between the glass and paint layer, which viewed from the front appear as patches of greyish less saturated areas of paint. The delaminations were of small size and situated mostly on the black suit’s folds outlined with bold, wide lines and partially on the brown background. There were not any signs of paint separation from the glass on the areas of the white collar and face. The delaminating of the paint in the selected areas of the scene may have explanation in the technological process of creation of the painting like type of pigments or binding mediums used. Another group of damages were scratches, localised along the edges. They were caused by rusted nails holding the glass in the frame.
The poor preservation condition prompted a preliminary study of the technology and materials of the object. The essential treatments to the painting consisted of:
1. Cleaning of the back of the painting layer
2. Reattachment of the flaking paint to the glass support
3. Retouching of the painting layer.
4. Proper framing in the original frame.
An innovative set of colour cardboards was placed behind the glass reverse painting to saturate the retouchings and unify the overall visual effect. In the end a corrugated plastic sheet was inserted behind the cardboards.