AN INTERESTING VISITOR.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 13493, 23 September 1914, Page 9

AN INTERESTING VISITOR.

METHODS OF OLD MIASTERS.

An interesting visitor to Nelson a£ the pi-esent. time is Mr F. \Y. C'olley, of, Hull, Eng-land, an artist and an expert-, l^storev ot old paintings. 'Hie restora> •tion of a j>ictuie by a man of Mr ' Colley's _taiiaing does not mean one who will "'touch tip" a picture by the skilled use of pigments. It is a much more delicate process m which the use oi chemicals figures largely, and work which consists wholly and solely of bringing out the original beauties of a work which may have been obscured by the dust and dirt of ages ; work which requires great skiill and experience. To quote Mr Oolley, the only case m wliieh a restorer is justified m using pigments is when the painting has been torn or pierced, and it becomes necessary to draw the canvas together and hide the effects of the mend. During his stay m Wellington, Mr Colley was commissioned by Mr Hamilton, curator of the Dominion Museum, to restore some pictures at the museum, and whilst engaged m that work he made a discovery which may be of some artistic importance. Amongst the canvases submitted to him for restoration was one which has "been lying round m the museum for nearly a quarter of a century — a dim old paintincr of the head of Christ, the dimensions of which are 3ft by' 2_ft. Under his skilled hands the picture was developed into something approaching its original appearance, and to the surprise of Mr Colley, it has been recognised as a painting either by Murillo or one which was executed during the Murillo 'period, after the style a-ild m the manner of the great Spanish artist, who died as long ago as 1682. Mr Collej* states tiat the work, whoever it is by, is an extremely beautiful one — <a very finely-painted head and shoulders of Christ, good m expression, admirably painted, and, what is most important, having a color used m the robe which lias long since been lost to the world. Asked to describe the color, Mr Colley said that the nearest approach to it -.•'as tlie present-day rich crimson lake, but it was not crimson lake. It is what is known m association with the old masters as dragon red, a very rich luminous red, the secret of which is not. known to modern artiste. Furthermore^ the painting is on handmade canvas of great age, and it is wellknown that m the 17th century the great painters made -their own canvas, and; prepared it most carefully before anything m the nature of nigments was applied. The painting is almost a square, -which has at some remote date been cut from a larger picture. - This is. assumed from ..the fact that although the full left hand is preserved, part of •the right hand has been cut off.