2002 – Early
9/14/2014 – Cleo Mullins of Richmond Conservation Studios first visit
2/5/2015 -Cleon Mullins 2nd visit
http://www.churchsp.org/altarpiece3
5/11/2015 – Vestry approves the project
6/1/2015 – June Newsletter. "Vestry has voted to proceed with the restoration of the altarpiece at the front of the church. The kick off for this expensive project will take place in the season of Advent. The “quiet phase” of fundraising is now in process."
http://www.churchsp.org/newsletter201506
10/1/2015 – Newsletter Oct., 2015
http://www.churchsp.org/newsletter201510
11/1/2015 – Newsletter, Nov., 2015
http://www.churchsp.org/newsletter201511
11/29/2015 – Cleo Mullins our altarpiece conservator was here to explain the conservation process during the announcements and describe the problems she encountered in the various parts of the altarpiece. It is a case of the elements (earthquake water damage), time (framework gild, tablets bowing) and human mistakes (overpaint and damage to the framework by ladders). She opened the review to questions. The conservation is not an exact process since various details may be revealed in the conservation.
We also included in the bulletin a pamphlet and have a form for donating or pledge to the altarpiece. Catherine revealed that the cost of $64K has been met by dnations and pledges of $31K
lastsunday20151129
4/22/2016 – Takedown of the tablets.
http://churchsp.org/tablets20160422
4/23/2016 – Scaffolding goes up
http://churchsp.org/lastsunday20160424
5/10/2016 – Central portion work unveils the blue
http://churchsp.org/altarpiecerestoration20160510
5/18/2015
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160518
5/20/2016 – Central portion – "On the cross on the central panel I found a structure that consists of silver leaf with a pattern of fine yellow ochre lines on top and a transparent yellow coating…On the vertical member of the cross and on the left vertical member of the "H," I’ve found there are two lines about 1/4" apart that form a border aroud the edges. On the cross, your can see a diamond pattern at the top and bottom points.
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160518
5/20/2016 – Pinnacles – ‘If you recall when we were testing the right pinnacle, we were finding the layer of blue that the "gold" stenciling sits upon was darker than the blue of the central panel and appeared to cover deep craters of lost paint. In cleaning the central Christogram panel, we’ve found a similar blue color that is associated with an early restoration.
6/5/2016 – Central portion "Since your vestry meeting, I was able to determine that there is a second layer of brown paint on top of the initial brown toning. I have been able to get off a bit more of that brown layer, exposing quite a bit of the gold "curliques“. This week doing infill on the central section where the plaster is missing and then painting over it
http://churchsp.org/centralletters
6/8/2016 Lettering 2
http://churchsp.org/centralletters2
http://churchsp.org/centralletters2
6/10/2016
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160611
6/11/2016 – Pinnacles – "Beth also took a series of infra-red reflectance photographs and we can see a bit more of the design elements that are still hidden on both the pinnacles and central panel. She also traced what we’d been able to uncover of the pinnacle design. The floral design on the two pinnacles were made with a combination of five separate stencils and on each side, the stencils were placed a little differently, but still maintained the same design. I’ve taken scans of Beth’s tracings, the infra-red photographs, and the color photographs and layered them"
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160611
6/19/2016 – Beginning of the Pinnacles restoration in the church
6/26/2016 – Central Portion substantially complete
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160626
6/26/2016 – Pinnacles essentially done
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160626
6/27/2016 – Cleaning of the tablets -What I am finding on the tablets is (from top to bottom) —
1. A crosslinked layer of damar-like varnish, probably with drying oil added. This layer has a very thin layer of airborne grime on it.
2. A substantial layer of black grime.
3. A very tough oil varnish, which is somewhat cloudy and a light dirty tan in color.
4. A blackened crusty layer of sooty grime. This could well be your fire damage as it is very difficult to remove it evenly from the blue paint beneath it.
7/4/ update
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160703
7/6/2016 Framework- preparation work by Rusell Bernabo- "incremental steps of surface preparation"
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160710
7/13/2016 – Russell donates some 22k gold to the project
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160713
7/21/2016 – Scaffolding removed. – Framework complete
lastsunday20160724
http://churchsp.org/altarpiece20160721
8/13/2016 – Russell’s work complete on the Angel Corberls
http://churchsp.org/angelscorbels20160813
9/1/2016 – Tablets come back to the church. Touchup planned for a week later