Final varnish

[Jennifer Bogartz]

Claudemir, thank you for the information! I had no idea that you could make a varnish out of egg white and salt. I know that eggs are used in egg tempera but I have never personally tried it.

Did the masters of the Renaissance use a final varnish?

[Michael Georges]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Bogartz

Did the masters of the Renaissance use a final varnish?

Yes they did. There is an entire section on varnishing in Cennino d'Andrea Cennini's book "Il Libro dell' Arte" published in the 1400s. Early varnishes were often done from amber or mastic or copal, and sometimes by mixing a solvent with a balsam such as Venice Turpentine. Damar/dammar varnish has come into primary use in the past 100 or so years.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Michael is right.

Egg varnish was widely used because it was a lot easier to prepare then the other ones. The removal of egg varnish is done with a moistured rice paper applied on the surface of the painting, and then it is removed and the surface is cleaned with cotton swabs.

[Jennifer Bogartz]

Originally Posted by Claudemir Bonfim

Michael is right.

Egg varnish was widely used because it was a lot easier to prepare then the other ones. The removal of egg varnish is done with a moistured rice paper applied on the surface of the painting, and then it is removed and the surface is cleaned with cotton swabs.

That sounds like it would be less stressful to the painting than solvents. How come eggs don't go rancid?

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Bogartz

That sounds like it would be less stressful to the painting than solvents. How come eggs don't go rancid?

Because of the salt.
I tried it more than a decade ago and the painting still looks fine.

[Jennifer Bogartz]

Thank you for answering my questions. Why is it best to avoid organic varnishes like the one made out of egg white and salt?

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Bogartz

Thank you for answering my questions. Why is it best to avoid organic varnishes like the one made out of egg white and salt?

Because that is not a strong varnish, yellows faster than the others and can be really messy to apply. The good thing is that it is non toxic, but if you go outdoors you won't have problems using retouch varnish. The final varnish can be used in your studio (if you are using brushes).

A good example of the quality of current varnishes is the one used on Rembrandt's Night Watch. A crazy guy threw acid on the painting (and that was the second time the painting was attacked), immediately after that a security guard started removing the acid with destilated water and fortunately the acid didn't reach the painting, it only scratched the varnish surface (of course there were thick coats of varnish). The results woundn't be the same if that happened to egg varnish.

[Jennifer Bogartz]

Thank you, Michael! Do you think they intended for someone to remove the varnish to clean the painting or is that something that was developed later by conservators?

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Bogartz

Thank you, Michael! Do you think they intended for someone to remove the varnish to clean the painting or is that something that was developed later by conservators?

I still don't know what Michael is about to say, but they used the varnishes for the same reasons pointed out in this thread, protection, sunken areas, etc...