Examination, Technical Analysis, and Treatment of His Works in the Charles Bregler Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine ArtsMARK F. BOCKRATH, VIRGINIA N. NAUD�, & DEBBIE HESS NORRIS
ABSTRACT—In 1985, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts acquired Charles Bregler's Thomas Eakins Collection, the largest private holding of Eakins material, including drawings, photographs, oil sketches, and sculpture, most of which had been cataloged and restored by Bregler. Preparation of the collection for an exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy in 1991 provided a unique opportunity to study Eakins's works in a variety of media. Mark F. Bockrath examines Eakins's working methods and painting materials in his oil sketches and finished paintings. Treatment of the sketches to undo Bregler's restorations is discussed. Virginia N. Naud� explains how the relief sculptures, Spinning and Knitting, were identified as the originals of all known plaster and bronze versions. Technical analysis of the sculpture by microscopy and x-radiographs show them to be complex assemblages in which the artist manipulated three-dimensional components into shallow relief. Conservation treatment of the reliefs to remove restorations is addressed. Debbie Hess Norris describes the 500 photographs by Eakins and his circle in the collection as representing a wide variety of processes and formats. Eakins's intentions as a photographer and the range of his subject matter are presented.Treatment work to stabilize the photographs is described as it addressed the various deterioration mechanisms of different processes.
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