Cleaning smoke from paintings

December 5, 2006 8:06 PM

Do you recognize this painting ? If not, can you tell me how to clean the soot off of it?

I've had this painting hanging in my room since I was a small child. We had a house fire a couple of years ago and it was ruined by smoke. I would like to either replace this painting or clean the soot off of it (I have several other paintings to clean also). Does anyone know where I can get another print of it? It isn't signed.

posted by Ariadne to Media & Arts (11 answers total)

Response by poster: I should also point out that the painting was done in the early 1970s or before.
posted by Ariadne at 8:08 PM on December 5, 2006

Kasparov vs. Shallow Blue?
Here's some cleaning advice.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 8:11 PM on December 5, 2006 [2 favorites]

if it is a real oil painting (rather than some print on paper) then human spit and a soft cloth work well. I've seen people from top art museums do this though often what they are cleaning off is so-called 'nicotine' - the painting has been in a room for 100s of years where people smoke.
posted by MonkeySaltedNuts at 8:26 PM on December 5, 2006

That painting is on the cover of an Andrew Loyd Webber album I had in the late seventies Variations/Julian Lloyd Webber (1978)
posted by hortense at 8:55 PM on December 5, 2006

Try the Canadian Conservation Institute for some good tips.

Another print of it? Is this a print or a painting? Cleanign methods will certainly differ in important ways.
posted by Rumple at 9:05 PM on December 5, 2006

I've had no luck looking for it. Can't find the cover of that Andrew Lloyd Webber album, either, oddly enough. Some places you could look, although I didn't see anything close to yours:
- chess paintings
- chess graphics

The Chess Game by F. Beda is similar but has a number of obvious differences.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:45 PM on December 5, 2006

I don't think it's on the cover of Variations.
posted by icontemplate at 10:00 PM on December 5, 2006

If the album cover in question is the one that can be seen by going to Julian Lloyd Webber's discography, and selecting "Variations - original rock version", then it's not the same as your painting. (Though it's got figures cut from a similar painting; might still be a worthwhile lead. The picture at that site is tiny, too.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:22 PM on December 5, 2006

Yes - nice one, icon - I couldn't get that full-size image. (also must preview.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:23 PM on December 5, 2006

It looks like a print.
posted by fire&wings at 4:11 AM on December 6, 2006

I think I've seen it before, but I can't recall where.

Maybe you can do an image search in yahoo or google for keywords: chess, chess player, chess victorian, chess painting, etc.
posted by pikaboy202 at 9:22 PM on December 6, 2006