Object of the Week: 'In Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire: winter evening after rain'

Sometimes, what at first appears to be the most standard of paintings can have the most unusual of stories.

In Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire: winter evening after rain, oil painting by Andrew MacCallum

When I first saw Andrew MacCallum’s In Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire: winter evening after rain in the V&A, I saw it as a fairly typical painting - a very beautifully painted rendition of Sherwood Forest, with intricate barren trees silhouetted by a glowing winter sky, but something similar to any landscape you may see in any gallery. This oil painting, however, hides a tale of conservation-detective work.

Donated by MacCallum in 1885, for many years the painting hung over a staircase in the V&A, the frosted forest calming those who passed. Until, that is, conservator Nicola Costaras took a closer look and realised an inconsistency. The painting was subtitled ‘winter evening after rain’ - so why was the forest covered in frost? Had MacCallum made a mistake, not realising that rain would wash the frost away? Costaras thought not - after all, why would the experienced woodland painter specify ‘after rain’ only to directly contradict that?

Curious, Costaras examined the painting more closely, and found out exactly why MacCallum had painted frost - he hadn’t. The ‘frost’, as it turns out, wasn't frost but bloom - a hazy, white substance formed from trapped deposits created by chemical reactions between the layers of the painting. This had built up over time, turning MacCallum’s damp landscape into a frosty one, and the fact that the bloom had coincidentally coalesced around the forest floor meant that nobody had noticed.

In Sherwood Forest mid-restoration

Using incredibly clever techniques I do not understand in the slightest, the team at the V&A carefully reversed the effects of the bloom without damaging the brushstrokes or details, restoring the painting to MacCallum’s original vision. Today, the painting hangs in Room 123 as a testament to the vital and complicated work of conservators.

I love this painting for a number of reasons. First, the fact that a painting, a traditionally very static form of art, transformed over time, not due to new contexts but due to a chemical reaction that coincidentally fit the image perfectly, continues to amaze me. It was also my first glimpse into the world of conservationism and the sort of work they do - not just maintenance but what is essentially detective work, figuring out issues with artefacts and reverse engineering the best way to restore items. Finally, it opens up an interesting discussion about artist intent and conservation - was it right for the V&A team to drastically change the painting to restore the original artist’s intent, or should they have honoured the effects of time?

Not bad for a standard oil painting.

The painting in its original frost-less glory

Ethan Cowie is currently a student on the MA Museum Studies program at the University of Leicester.