Conserving Canvas
Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant’s The Emperor Justinian (1866) underwent comprehensive conservation at ArtCare Conservation as part of the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Canvas initiative, a highly selective international programme supporting complex treatments of historic paintings on canvas. One of the most ambitious large-scale painting conservation projects undertaken in the United States, the treatment addressed severe structural challenges associated with scale, tension, and material sensitivity through advanced BEVA-based lining techniques, while also serving as an educational platform for mid-career conservators and conservation faculty.
Beyond the conservation of a single painting, the project functioned as a platform for the transmission of specialised structural knowledge. The Getty Foundation established the Conserving Canvas initiative in direct response to a recognised gap in professional training and a measurable decline in hands-on expertise related to the structural treatment of paintings on canvas, particularly at monumental scale. As fewer conservators now receive sustained, practical exposure to complex lining, planar correction, and tension-management techniques, the initiative supports a small number of major projects worldwide where these skills can be actively practised, refined, and taught.
Developed within this framework, the work placed The Emperor Justinian within an international network of research, training, and methodological exchange focused on paintings presenting exceptional structural challenges and on practitioners with demonstrated expertise in advanced treatment methodologies. Participation in the initiative reflects a high level of professional confidence and institutional trust, particularly as it extends beyond museums to include a limited number of specialist studios capable of supporting both complex treatments and hands-on training at an international level.
The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida, is one of the most significant art museums in the southeastern United States and the official State Art Museum of Florida. Founded on the collections of circus impresario and cultural patron John Ringling, the museum is internationally recognised for its holdings of European Baroque painting, nineteenth-century academic art, and large-scale historical canvases. Its stewardship of monumental works such as Benjamin-Constant’s The Emperor Justinian reflects a long-standing institutional commitment to the preservation, study, and public presentation of complex, large-format paintings requiring advanced conservation expertise.
Historical Context
Painted in 1866, The Emperor Justinian reflects Benjamin-Constant’s emergence as a leading figure within the French Orientalist movement. The painting presents a dramatic architectural vision of Byzantine imperial power, rendered with theatrical scale, intricate surface detail, and a richly saturated palette. Such works were intended to dominate large exhibition spaces, relying on complex paint structures, resinous glazes, and ambitious compositional depth to achieve their visual impact.
Paintings of this period frequently incorporate experimental oil mixtures and layered glazing systems that heighten visual effect but introduce long-term structural sensitivity. Combined with the sheer scale of the canvas, these material characteristics make works such as The Emperor Justinian especially responsive to changes in tension, handling, and environment—conditions that must be addressed through structural conservation rather than surface treatment alone.
Condition and Conservation Scope
When examined by ArtCare Conservation, the painting exhibited pronounced planar distortions, weakened areas within the canvas support, cracking in the ground and paint layers, and dispersed paint loss ranging from fine flaking to larger areas of exposure. These conditions reflected the cumulative effects of age, handling history, and long-term mechanical stress as well as previous emergency conservation treatments.
Despite these challenges, the pictorial image remained coherent and visually compelling. This allowed the conservation strategy to focus on stabilisation, structural correction, and long-term preservation rather than reconstruction. The scope of treatment was defined by the need to re-establish structural harmony while respecting the original materials and working methods of the artist.
Structural Conservation and Methodology
Treatment began with stabilisation of the paint surface. Areas of lifting and flaking paint were consolidated using conservation adhesives, and residues from earlier protective materials were carefully reduced. A temporary facing of isinglass and Japanese tissue was applied to safeguard the surface during structural intervention.
With the surface protected, the canvas support was addressed in full. The verso was cleaned, historic patches and adhesive residues were removed, and tears within the image field were rewoven to restore continuity of the original linen. Damaged tacking margins were reconstructed through thread-by-thread rejoining and reinforced with PeCap and BEVA film. Where original canvas material was missing, carefully matched inlays were introduced to maintain mechanical and material compatibility.
Correction of long-standing planar distortions was a central component of the treatment. ArtCare designed and fabricated a custom expandable aluminium conservation loom, enabling controlled, incremental adjustment of tension across the entire canvas while maintaining full support. Using calibrated moisture, gentle heat, magnets, and gradual mechanical expansion, the painting was methodically returned toward plane.
To strengthen the ageing linen support and prepare it for exhibition, the canvas was impregnated from the reverse with dilute BEVA 371, improving cohesion and flexibility. The painting was then lined using a BEVA-based lining system, selected for its proven suitability in stabilising paintings of exceptional size, weight, and structural complexity.
Mid-career conservators chosen by Barbara Ramsey, the head of conservator at the Ringling Museum, worked alongside ArtCare Conservation throughout the course of this structural campaign, participating directly in tear mending, planar correction, and lining procedures as part of the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Canvas framework.
Surface Treatment and Aesthetic Integration
Following structural stabilisation, surface treatment focused on restoring legibility while preserving original material. Accumulated grime and aged varnish layers were reduced through solvent systems established by testing, revealing the depth, saturation, and tonal balance of Benjamin-Constant’s original palette.
Inappropriate overpainting and hardened restoration materials were selectively reduced, exposing authentic paint passages and evidence of the artist’s working process, including subtle compositional adjustments. Losses were filled with Modostuc and retouched using reversible Gamblin Conservation Colors, integrated to support visual coherence while remaining fully legible under examination. A final Larapol–Paraloid varnish was applied to unify surface gloss and provide a stable, non-yellowing protective layer suitable for long-term museum display.
Getty Foundation Conserving Canvas Workshop and Knowledge Transfer
In addition to the project-based training embedded within the treatment itself, the same cohort of mid-career conservators—joined by faculty and students from major conservation programmes—participated in a one-day Getty Foundation Conserving Canvas workshop focused on traditional glue-paste lining techniques, with particular emphasis on suspended glue-paste linings.
The workshop addressed paste preparation, lining canvas selection, suspension methods, weight distribution, and the comparative behaviour of paste-based and synthetic lining systems during planar correction. By clearly distinguishing between the BEVA-based lining selected for The Emperor Justinian and the glue-paste methodologies explored in the workshop, the project reinforced a core principle of the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Canvas initiative: structural conservation is situational, not prescriptive. Training remains grounded in foundational techniques that inform judgement across all systems, even as materials are selected in response to the specific needs of each painting.
Structural Continuity
The methodologies demonstrated in this project reflect a sustained tradition of structural conservation developed through decades of practice on large and mechanically complex paintings. Techniques such as controlled planar correction, large-scale lining, and suspended systems are approached not as fixed recipes, but as adaptive tools—refined through repeated application, close material observation, and long-term assessment of outcomes. The work on The Emperor Justinian represents the continuation of this accumulated knowledge: a practice grounded in traditional craft, informed by experience, and deliberately transmitted through teaching and collaboration to ensure its relevance for future generations of conservators.
Outcome and Significance
Following completion, the painting was transported to the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art and mounted on a custom Simon Liu stretcher. For the first time in many years, The Emperor Justinian could be safely exhibited in full, its scale, colour, and architectural drama restored to clarity.
As part of the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Canvas initiative, the project stands as both a major conservation achievement and an educational milestone. It represents the preservation of a monumental nineteenth-century painting alongside the active transmission of specialised structural knowledge—ensuring that large-scale BEVA lining strategies, traditional glue-paste and suspended lining techniques, and the judgement they require remain part of living conservation practice.
