Volume 9, Number 1, Jan. Carlton Koehler, an entomologist at U. The collection contains adults, immature insects and frass of common insect pests according to a list supplied by Jim Druzik.
The Getty Conservation Institute would be glad to provide identification services free of charge. Send pest sample to Jim Druzik for initial identification and processing. James Druzik The Getty Conservation Institute Glencoe Avenue Marina del Rey, California LACMA Experiments with Cleaning Systems The Paintings Conservation studio at LACMA has in the past few months experimented with some of the cleaning systems devised by Richard Wolbers Senior Paintings Conservator, Winterthur Museum : 1 enzyme gel formulations for removal of oil overpaint or protein-based materials, 2 emulsions which combine organic and aqueous phases in gel-like solutions using non-ionic detergent and 3 soap solutions composed of compounds molecularly similar in structure to natural resins and prepared in aqueous solution.
Interest in these cleaning methods was generated by seminars which Mr. Wolbers gave at the Getty Museum this past summer and by his two subsequent brief visits to LACMA when we discussed his systems as applicable to paintings in our collection. Coincidentally, Ginny Rasmussen joined us in September as our intern from the University of Delaware bringing with her first-hand knowledge of these methods.
The following paragraphs briefly describe some of the experiences we at LACMA have had with the cleaning systems. One painting which was particularly well-suited for treatment with enzymes was a Hans Bol Landscape of This is a Tuchlein grossly overpainted with oil colors.
Lipase gel attacked the old overpaint but left the original aqueous paint untouched. Nevertheless, caution was required since the gel could "overclean". It could not be manipulated to clean evenly. It was important to stop the process at the right moment to only thin the overpaint. Remaining overpaint was then evenly removed using organic solvents. Of the different compounds under consideration here, the xylene emulsion has had the widest use in our studio.
