Final varnish

[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.

[Claudemir Bonfim]

Egg varnish "can" go rancid if not mixtured correctly.

[Amanda Grosjean]

Claudemir,

This is off topic again but thank you for sharing that info on the Mona Lisa. What you discussed with the Raphael images was really interesting. If you ever want to start a new thread on damaged paintings I would be happy to learn about it and I'm sure many others on this forum would as well.

Thanks!

Amanda