RESTORATION OF A BALIN'S EMBOSSED WALLPAPER

Theodor Aman Museum is one of the most beautiful house museums in Bucharest, Romania's capital. Theodor Aman (1831–1891) was an influential Romanian painter in the 19th century.
His studio-home, built according to his designs in 1868, was a beloved meeting place for Bucharest's high society. The Theodor Aman Museum opened in 1908 and is today one of the oldest personal museums in Romania. The building retains several intimate atmospheres characteristic of the Belle Époque era.

A small parlor, located next to Theodor Aman's spacious workshop, was finished with wallpaper by the renowned French luxury wallpaper manufacturer Paul Balin. After a successful appearance at the 1873 Vienna World's Fair, Balin became an internationally sought-after producer of luxury wall coverings.
He became one of the most prominent French wallpaper manufacturers in the second half of the 19th century. His success lay in carefully chosen historical patterns, innovative production processes, and tools. As a tireless experimenter with printing methods, Balin patented over twenty new techniques during his lifetime, enabling his team to astonishingly accurately imitate expensive materials.

The wallpaper preserved in Theodor Aman’s house museum features a high relief and golden highlights that imitate gilded leather. The wallpaper, combined with dark dado, mouldings and a ceiling painting by Aman, creates a cozy atmosphere typical of historicism.

Our team restored wallpaper panels that had been previously removed from the wall, reinstalled them in their original location, and performed retouching. A small section of the wallpaper was reconstructed. To do this, we created a mold approximately 1.5 meters long from a well-preserved wallpaper panel, allowing us to reproduce the missing areas with a relief close to the original.

Client: Rotary Club Bucharest, Romania

Collaborator: Institut für Papierrestaurierung, Schloss Schönbrunn, Austria

Team: Markus Krön, Bernadette Klasz, John Rogers, Kadri Kallaste
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I participated in the project under the supervision of Mag. Markus Krön as a part of my doctoral thesis. 
 
Vaata lisa: Theodor Aman Museum
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