Restoring the Dunlop Family Portrait

In a workshop, lit by a special lamp, frame conservator with black rimmed glasses and red and black bobbed hair, wearing a denim work apron over a dark blue jumper with red lips, has her head down carefully applying gold leaf to a frame.

Frame conservator Sophie Kostin in her studio at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre treating the frame of the Dunlop portrait. © CSG CIC Glasgow Museums and Libraries Collections.

 

 

 

The Dunlop Family Portrait

In 2023 Glasgow Life Museums was kindly gifted by Alastair Barr Dunlop and family a large child group portrait by Glasgow painter Daniel Macnee, dating from around 1846. 


It depicts brothers Robert Dunlop (1836–1907), aged 10, on the left, wearing a tartan dress and holding a riding crop; Henry Barclay Dunlop (1832–1916), aged 14, in the middle wearing a red velvet frock coat; and William Barr Dunlop (1834–1902), aged 12, on the right.

Find out more about the painting

Before it was able to go on display, the intricate period frame turned into a major conservation project for our museum frame conservator Sophie Kostin. 

Here she details the process:

The frame came in in a very sorry state, covered in discoloured bronze paint, many, many losses, and a carrier bag full of ornaments that kept falling off when it was transported. It was decided that a full restoration was needed to make it fit for display.
The old bronze paint was sanded and scraped off and then the long task of replacing all the missing ornaments was started. The detached parts were re-adhered and moulds were made from around the frame in order to make casts in composition.
These were then applied and the whole frame was then re-gilded in 23.5 carat gold leaf. 29 books in total! The gilding was then distressed and aged so that the fresh gilding wouldn’t be too bright and distracting to the painting. The restoration took 3 months.
Sophie Kostin Frames Conservator
close up of hands gilding using gold leave on a wooden frame in a workshop setting

Timelapse video of the painting restoration

Check out Sophie working on the frame in the studio at Glasgow Museums Resource Centre.

We have two free curator and conservator-led talks on the painting and its frame - part of our Kelvingrove Bites short talk series. Check them out here:

The painting with its fabulous fully restored frame is now on display in the Scottish Identity in Art Gallery in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. We hope you can visit it soon!