ALISON STANTON
Tapestry Drawing Room, Castle Howard
A set of four Vanderbank tapestries depicting the four seasons, based on designs by Teniers. Circa 1705.
Tapestry before conservation
Before conservation: colours of the weft were still bright on the reverse.
After conservation: reverse of linen support.
Tapestry before conservation
Project gallery
Condition
The tapestries were heavily soiled with surface dust and had previously been heavily repaired. Each had a varying number of support patches on the reverse.
All four tapestries had suffered photo and chemical degradation in areas of silk weft due to historical exposure to UV light and dust respectively, resulting in a severe weakening of their mechanical structure. Unsupported areas of silk weft in the top third were structurally very weak with large open slits and splits evident.
The tapestries had undergone several alterations to fit an earlier decorative scheme. Two tapestries had been cut along their length and later restitched together, resulting in severe structural weakness. The upper edges of all four main fields had been folded back to reduce the height of the tapestries and the upper and lower borders had been removed, folded and reattached.
The existing hanging mechanisms were failing, resulting in uneven tension and distortion.
Treatment
Onsite, the tapestries were deinstalled and surface cleaned front and reverse using low suction vacuum.
In the studio, the existing hanging mechanisms were unpicked and removed. The fold backs of the upper main fields were unpicked and released to enable the tapestry to be laid out flat. The previous support patches in the upper third of the reverse of the tapestry were removed.
A full width linen scrim support was applied to the upper third, and laid couching was applied to areas where the silk weft was weak or completely degraded, allowing for the warps to be realigned. Historic repairs were left in situ, where they remained strong. Open slits were restitched with new slit stitching or with laid couching where the weft was weak. Additional support was applied to two tapestries, previously cut to fit an earlier location.
A grid of zigzag stitches was applied on the reverse to secure the linen to the tapestry to provide additional structural support.
Weak areas in the lower two thirds were, where possible, stitched through the existing support patches. Otherwise, new patches of linen scrim were introduced where additional conservation stitching was required.
A new hanging mechanism was stitched to the top edge and both side edges, allowing for the tapestries to hang flush to the wall within the gilded frames in the Tapestry Drawing Room.
