St John The Baptist was in an extremely poor state when I was asked to restore him. The damage was primarily caused by woodworm which had loosened off the gesso and which was continuing to break away from the carved wood, riddled with tiny holes. First stop was to have him specially heat treated to rid the worm. Then it was a painstaking process of securing the existing gesso and then restoring areas of gilding. I used the traditional methods of water gilding and burnishing to match the surface area. My primary concern was to restore but not destroy the age and patina of the overall sculpture. my client wanted it to keep its integrity of appearance and age but also to stem the destruction of this beautiful sculpture.
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