Restoring the Dunlop Family Portrait 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.
About the Dunlop Family Portrait
In 2023 Glasgow Life Museums was kindly gifted by Alastair Barr Dunlop and family, a large portrait by Glasgow painter Daniel Macnee, dating from around 1846.
It depicts brothers Robert Dunlop (1836–1907) age 10, Henry Barclay Dunlop (1832–1916) age 14 and William Barr Dunlop (1834–1902) age 12.
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 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.
The painting with its fabulous fully restored frame is now on display in Scottish Identity in Art in Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. We hope you can visit it soon!
Hear more from conservator Sophie on the painstaking restoration work in this short film.
We also 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: