Large Custom Frame
The French Benedictine monks received as a present from the painter Desvalieres a large painting (4.8m x 2.4m) in the early 20c. This unusual piece was painted on squares of paper glued unto a canvas. The painting made its way to the small but beautiful monastery of Emmaus des Croisees, near Jerusalem. It was nailed onto the wall above the crypt leading to the source on which the church was built in the 12 th c. The wall on which the painting was hung had a very high degree of humidity due to its proximity to the water bubbling from the source.
A new lined canvas was ordered from the Benedictine sisters in France, with the request that it be 3 m. wide and 6 m. long without any seams. It took one year to weave. The Israel Museum chief restorer transferred the paper painting from the old moldy canvas to the new one. I was then asked to build a stretcher and a frame.
First, I built a metal rectangular frame approximately 5 m. by 2.5 m, around which I built a plywood stretcher. The stretcher could be moved away from the metal frame by tightening a series of 20 bolts equidistantly disposed to enable a very cautious stretching of the canvas without straining the paper.
Next, I built a frame with a deeply beveled spacer of about 24 cm. lined with a neutral fabric. The beveled space was designed to house a Perspex-like 4mm. clear polycarbonate. This polycarbonate has built-in ultra violet filters to protect the paper from the sunlight.
The frame was ready. At this point, it weighed close to 350kg.(770lbs.) The problem now was how to hand this behemoth onto an extremely inaccessible wall while keeping it healthily away from it (remember the humidity?).
My engineer friend Gaby designed and built a crankshaft pulley with a 10mm. steel wire to enable us to lift the frame into position. We also imbedded into the wall, parallel to the bottom of the frame, two perpendicular metal bars with a loop at the top where two pins attached to the back of the frame would slide in. The solution was perfect! It kept the whole frame away from the wall and, could if needed, tilt the whole frame forward to break the reflection of the rudimentary lighting in the church.
The only thing left to do was to hang the frame without breaking it on the way (remember 5m x 2.5m. weighing 350kg.)
Being in the Holy Land, Land of Miracles, and with the wonderful help of 11 monks, we succeeded.
Click on thumbnails to see large pictures.
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Success
Constructing the frame
Frame ready
The Big Challenge! Getting it safely on the wall.