Georges Rouault’s Notre Dame des Champs No. 4

At the DAI, we keep the temperature around 72 degrees with 50% humidity. This is not just for our guests’ comfort, but because that is the ideal environment for the long-term care of works of art. However, prior to coming to the museum, works of art have often been kept in less-than-ideal settings. For example, a painting may live for years in a home as a centerpiece above a fireplace mantle or in the home of cigarette smokers. Handling or moving works of art may cause damage to surfaces and old varnishes often turn yellow with age. As a result, they often require the care of specialized conservators to allow the art to be shown in the best manner possible.

In recent years, several works of art have been conserved within the DAI collection, thanks to donations and the DAI’s commitment to care for the city’s treasures. The most recent work to be conserved is Georges Rouault’s exceptional Notre Dame des Champs (Our Lady of the Fields), No. 4, around 1920. One of the French artist’s many Christianthemed paintings, the modernist image of the Virgin Mary with Christ Child is an oil painting on paper that was then mounted to a canvas. Surrounding the central figures is a painted, or imagined, “frame,” which is then set within a traditional wood frame. Under careful examination, the painting proved to be in overall good condition, needing minor touches of repair to paper along the edges. The greater concerns were aesthetic, as the surface had badly discolored over time. Varnish is often added to oil paintings to act as a hard, protective layer. However, natural varnishes regularly yellow with age, as it had on the Rouault painting. In addition, it was a particularly heavy and glossy varnish that is unusual with Rouault’s art and likely added after leaving his studio. The painting was also darkened overall from a thin layer of nicotine. The conservators at ICA-Art Conservation in Cleveland removed the old varnish and thoroughly cleaned the work before adding a new, thin varnish layer that allows the artist’s expressive brushstrokes to show through. A new sheet of non-reflective museum glass has also been added for further protection.

The conservation of this work was generously supported by Susan Ayers. Look for the painting on view in the Bieser Family Gallery 212.