A NEW PIGMENTED WAX-RESIN FORMULATION FOR INFILLING AND REINTEGRATING LOSSES IN PAINTINGS: TESTING ITS WORKABILITY IN TWO CASE STUDIES

Abstract

A new pigmented wax-resin formulation introduced and tested for its suitability as a material to infill and reintegrate losses in paintings. This formulation contains Cosmoloid H80 microcrystalline wax and Regalrez® 1126 hydrogenated hydrocarbon resin, in a ratio of 1.5:1 (wax:resin, parts by weight), and is mixed with dry pigments and/or inert fillers (such as chalk, kaolin, or aluminium hydroxide). After extensive research on the properties and the stability of various formulations, the most successful one was applied on two canvas paintings with very diverse characteristics: a 17th century oil painting, and a 21st century acrylic painting. In this paper, the different application methods used are described step-by-step. These consisted of using the new formulations not only solely as infilling materials (by adding inert fillers to the wax-resin mixture), but also as materials capable of infilling and reintegrating a loss in one single step (by adding pigments to the wax-resin mixture). The possibility of imprinting and carving texture, as well as of sculpting the infills to recreate brushstrokes, was also tested and verified and is described in detail here.