REverse glass paintings in mantel clocks

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The tablet had paint loss which owner tried to arrest by placing cellophane tape over flaking paint on reverse side.  In order to facilitate repair and restoration this tape had to be removed.  Much of the paint had been lost and removal did little further damage to painting.  The painted area was assessed for condition and damage and loss area was cleaned back to facilitate correction. 

The painting is comprised of two parts, a border stencil and oil painted center design.  The border stencil had large losses which were repaired by creating stencils an reapplying powder to fresh varnish.  The top of painting had loss to the top of sky, this was trimmed back to the least damaged area for correction this can be seen in 4/6.   In frame 1/6 you will see a close-up of the newly painted in areas at top of sky, the trick is to match colors seamlessly so new and old  blend.  There is also a color alteration factor in the glass which has to be taken into account.  Frames 2/6 before and 1/6 after  show close-up of repair. 

Reverse glass painting was an inexpensive and decorative way for clock manufacturers to enhance their products.  Often the painting were of famous places i.e. mount vernon, commerce exchanges, and often just pretty scenes.   The oil paint adherence to glass was dubious at best and 100 plus year old works have paint chips falling off due to age.  Some remained in much better condition than others likely due to surface preparation and or quality of paint mix.   It is quite possible to stabilize these paintings and restore their appearance when desired.