The experience of de-restoration of the painting by Friedrich Hartmann Barisien “Portrait of Nikolaus Ernst von Korf”

The article is dedicated to conservation, de-restoration and research of the painting by Fr.H. Barisien (1724-1796) “Portrait of Nikolaus Ernst von Korff” from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum. The painting has been comprehensively restored in 1976, consolidated the ground and the painting layer, lining the canvas, cleaned the overpainting, reconstruction and compensation for loss of canvas, ground, and the painting layer. After 50 years of watching the painting again it was found that a large number of large warps of the ground appeared, the retouching areas different from the surrounding tone, and the varnish film became yellowed and degraded. It was decided to perform a de-restoration of the painting. The term de-restoration is the removal of materials from the previous restoration. That is, to separate the backing canvas, clean the canvas, and remove all reconstruction from the painting. In other words, the work of restoration had to be done anew, within the framework of modern principles of gentle restoration, and before that the old operation with the peculiarities of previously were removed as much as possible. Undertaken project using several advanced technological method and some practical solutions known from western conservation experience. In particular, transparent flatbed stretcher, polyester fabric, low pressure vacuum table, transparent materials, preservation of the readability of the inscription on the back of author's canvas, and some other solutions were used