Featured "Spooky" Impressionist Oil Painting Restoration!

A couple months ago I won a horribly grimy late 19th century 18"x24" (canvas size) oil painting by "R. W. Walters" at an art dealer's auction. Seller claimed this painting was an "impressionist landscape". I thought it would turn out to be a pleasing impressionist take on a landscape near Cardiff. Boy was I wrong!

Before cleaning anything, I documented the front and back of the work. Interestingly, the canvas was pre-prepared when the artist bought it. The frame is also fairly impressive with intricate wood carving around the outer edge. There is an old label on the back for a custom frame shop called "A. S. Waters" at 8 Shakespeare St. in Cardiff. A.S. Waters was apparently in business around 1900.

I carefully removed the painting from the frame, then tested and wiped it down with "Neutralizer" on a cloth. Serious orange grime and/or varnish started to lift off the surface.

At first I thought I'd need powerful varnish remover to clean off the old varnish and grime. To my surprise, almost all of the grime/varnish lifted off with Gainsborough Products' Super Emulsion Cleaner. Slowly but surely the original colors started to come back. 400 cotton swabs and 2/3 bottle of Super Emulsion Cleaner later, I had removed the vast majority of grime.

Following that, I patched one small hole with picture repair putty and applied an isolation coat of varnish. I inpainted over the putty to conceal it and applied a final layer of synthetic semi-gloss conservation varnish.

After touching up most of the frame, I reinstalled the painting. Still need to replace a couple missing pieces of frame plaster.

Observations: After the orange goop had been removed, the scene itself turned out to be positively spooky. Mr. Walters primed the entire canvas with red paint as a first measure. Craquelure shows red. Not only is the sky dark grey and pond sickly-looking, the forest is a mixture of blacks, gnarly leafless trees, and grey and red mists! The trail appears to take you into a bewitched forest. Quite an unexpected treat IMO!

What do you think? Have you seen any other paintings by R. W. Walters? Was "spooky impressionism" a thing?

Unrestored:



After "neutralizer" (please disregard old GOP mouse pad):



Cleaning with "Super Emulsion Cleaner", first pass






After isolation coat of varnish:


Varnished and reinstalled in frame:


Verso:

 

that is LOVELY!!!!! I don't see anything spooky about it!

 

It is boo-tiful.

 

I agree, it is lovely!!!! And you id a great job cleaning it

 

Yeah congrats on a much improved piece, definitely you have done it some justice

Although it's quite a subtle painting in subject, it does have a nice feel about it

 

I also like it. Nice job

 

Got alot of warmth

 

Thanks a bunch!

This painting seems unusual in that depending on the light conditions, viewing angle, and time of day it can appear either lovely or spooky! Wish I could see some other R. W. Walters paintings to see if this was a common technique he used? Before, I didn't think it possible to paint warm and attractive red mists and gnarly trees!

 

P.S. I just saw an "R. Walters" sell at auction this month. I'm not a handwriting expert, however there appear to be some similarities in the signatures and age.

Do you think this could be the same hand? Woman in the Forest | Artia Auction Gallery (aukcni-galerie.cz)