“Omai, A Native of Ulaietea” - Francesco Bartolozzi after Nathaniel Dance (1774)
This is an image, engraved by F. Bartolozzi after a drawing by Nathaniel Dance, of Omai, who returned to Europe on Captain James Cook’s second voyage. This work had been backed onto a woodpulp board in the last 50 years that had become acidic and increasingly brittle, to the point that the board had failed across the legs of the figure and risked tearing the print in 2. It also displayed grazing of the design layer by silverfish.
The key aims of this treatment were to remove the work from the fragile acidic backing board and to reintegrate the areas of the image lost to insect grazing.
Technical Photography: Raking Light, Mechanical Damage, FCIR, IR, UV.
After Treatment. Reflected Light. Recto - Tab Inlaid onto a handmade green toned paper.