The difficulties arise both from the extreme hardness and adhesion of this adhesive layer and from its toxicity due to lead. The adhesive had sufficient tack to keep a canvas in place until the mixture cured, had a long curing time allowing sufficient time for correct placement of canvas, but eventually hardened by oxidation of the oil through reaction with the lead carbonate. This was a common adhesive in the 20th century, particularly the 1930’s, for attaching murals to walls and was made by mixing white carbonate of lead (a common white pigment) with linseed oil. Removal of the mural from the plaster wall is particularly difficult not because of its size but because it remains well bound to the plaster by a layer of “white lead” adhesive. View of the Viewer’s Right Portion of the 64 Foot Wide Mural now Covered in Scaffolding. paintings conservator Stefan Dedecek has been principally involved in the conservation work of this project. Meeting the requirement that the work be performed in conjunction with an art conservator, Ely, Inc. agreed to fund the mural’s removal and hired the Washington, DC museum services firm Ely, Inc. president Robert Lodge, Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc. However, after removal, it is planned that the mural will remain in Wilmington and be prepared for installation in the Historical Society of Delaware several blocks away.įollowing a 2007 feasibility study for its removal by McKay Lodge Inc. in its time, it could not be retained in the conversion design. View of the Viewer’s Left Portion of the 64 Foot Wide Mural now Covered in Scaffolding.īecause of the tremendous scale of the mural, the largest mural in the U.S. who will convert the old bank building into a hotel. The bank building has been sold to Wilmington real estate developer Buccini/Pollin Group, Inc. The 18 foot tall and 64 foot wide mural was painted in 1932 and attached to the lobby wall of the Wilmington Savings Fund Society. Wyeth’s monumental mural APOTHEOSIS OF THE FAMILY. of Washington DC to be the consulting and participating conservators for the removal of N.C. McKay Lodge Conservation Laboratory, Inc. These removals, as here, can be both extremely difficult and toxic when the adhesive used was a mixture of “white lead” or lead carbonate in linseed oil. In murals conservation (or mural conservation) removals for relocations are sometimes necessary for their survival when the buildings that house them are slated for demolition or for invasive alterations.

Plaster painting wilmington