126 The painting „Death of St Joseph“ reinforcement was done using patches of SEFAR polyester mesh laminated with BEVA-Film 371. The patches were then attached along the tacking margins using a hot spatula. Fragile areas of the tacking margins along the vertical beams and in the corners were stabilised with local striplining. Local holes were prepared by canvas intarsia in a first step. Then, strips of canvas with a length of 15 cm were prepared with Beva 371 film (65 µ) and ironed to the back of the canvas using a hot spatula. These canvas strips served as new tacking margins to allow for the stretching and mounting of the painting onto the strainer. Remounting and flattening of the painting The weakened and partially separated joints of the strainer were joined again by the use of liquid fish glue (Kremer). Missing areas of wood were reconstructed by using sticks of balsa wood, which were cut to size and glued in place. Nail holes were closed with sticks as well. The mounting process provided an opportunity to flatten the canvas and achieve acceptable planarity and tension of the textile support. Moistened blotting paper was inserted behind the original canvas and the whole painting was covered with Melinex. After a few minutes, the canvas had absorbed enough moisture to relax. It was then possible to stretch the canvas slightly by hand and to fix it permanently with stainless steel nails along the vertical tacking margins and in the corners, using the old but reinforced holes in the canvas whenever possible. Along the horizontal tacking margins, the intervention was restricted only to the insertion of new wooden pegs into the holes of missing ones. Reinforcement of the original strainer and backside protection system To reinforce the original strainer, an additional frame made of fir in the same size as the original frame was constructed in order to provide mechanical support. Polyester sailcloth was stretched over it. Two sheets of polyester wadding with a thickness equal to the thickness of the bars of the original strainer were cut to the required size and inserted in the areas between the beams of the original strainer. Then, the new frame with mounted polyester sailcloth was attached with screws to the back of the
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