‘Landscape with a ruined castle’ by Joseph Wright of Derby

The painting had been acquired by the Derby Museum in the 1950s as a work by Wright, but had later been demoted to ‘unknown artist’. This is not surprising, given just how much of the original painting had been covered up by later unnecessary overpaint.

Very little of the original paint was visible, and the whoever had applied the overpaint had used colours that were clearly not of the 18th century, altered the costumes of the figures, and even changed the direction in which the water flows. Some areas of original paint were visible for example in the water bottom right it was possible to see Wright’s typical method of ‘sgraffito’, scratching into wet paint to apply details, in this case the ripples in the water. There were also small areas of the masonry which has a pitted damaged appearance which is very typical of Wright.

Treatment involved firstly carrying out testing to assess the viability of removal of the aforementioned varnishes and overpaint, and after finding the correct solutions the various layers of dirt, varnish and added overpaint were then dissolved and removed. Because the overpaint was relatively recent (thought to have been applied in the 1950s), it still remained soluble in mild solvents. This revealed the original colours, which were still vibrant and bright. After cleaning, the painting was given a retouching varnish and precise retouching was carried out taking care not to cover original paint unnecessarily. A final semi-matte protective varnish was applied.

The treatment revealed a work of extraordinary quality by Wright himself, full of his signature techniques.

Bendor said: “This was probably the most satisfying case I have ever worked on. To be able to free this painting from the clutches of inept restoration – the worst I have ever seen – has been tremendously exciting. Best of all, it can now join the other Wrights in Derby Museum, one of Britain’s best regional museums.”