Old icons

Adherent deposits are very aggressive towards ancient heritage paintings since they affect the varnish and the painting's layers, sometimes reaching the preparative layers. The biggest problem to the restorer is their removal without affecting the patina, the transparent varnish (well preserved) and fine colour glazes made during painting. Therefore, their removal requires preliminary cleaning tests that allow the optimization of the cleaning system composition that is going to be used. The study was focused on organic natural systems, as colourless supernatants, some of them used during ages, but insufficiently studied. The paper presents an evaluation of the effectiveness of cleaning varnished icons of the nineteenth century, with complex conservation cases using supernatants derived from aqueous dispersions extracted from vegetables and dry indigenous herbal infusions. Best results, after six consecutive cleaning steps, on tempera old icon was obtained for a mixture made of mature white onion juice + extract of Soapwort flowers + corn silk tea + acacia tea. As a best result after just one cleaning step was obtained for a quaternary mixture composed from mature white onion juice + mature carrot juice + corn silk tea + aqueous extract of Soapwort flowers.

This study presents the data regarding the stoping of a xylophagous attack on the panel of „Lady from Rohia”
icon, part of the cultural heritage of „Saint Mihail and Gavriil„ church from Galati, by modifying the level of oxygen in the cryptoclimat. The study presents the stages and the operating systems used in stopping the
xylophagous atac by lowering the value of the oxygen inside the cryptoclimat below 0,1% for a period of 14
days. The icon and the measuring devices were sealed in a polyethylene bag from which the air was completely removed and replaced with nitrogen. The cryptoclimatic factors of the nitrogen atmosphere were then monitored for a period of 14 days.