Conservator Jeff Johnson creates a mold of the frame to replicate lost parts of the plaster decoration.
While Clark continued to paint in the bare spots on the canvas, Johnson created silicon molds of parts of the frame and used them to create replacements for the missing ornamentation. Once the new plaster moldings were ready, Johnson added them to the frame, and cleaning began on the gilt frame. Gilding is a process that leaves a fine coat of gold behind, and through the ages, many different chemical processes have been used to achieve golden effects. Johnson had to again apply his knowledge of historic techniques and chemistry to determine the best cleaning method. Johnson and Clark’s time in Bradford working on the frame and the accompanying documentary provided the opportunities for four students to learn alongside professionals in their fields. Senior Alexis Horning of Bradford, a psychology major with a minor in art, had a chance to observe and take part in the restoration of the painting. “It’s been very interesting,” Horning said of her opportunity. “Walking into this restoration project, I knew nothing about it.” Clark talked with Horning about how she created the paint to be similar to that used by Juglaris, explained color theory and technique and then handed Horning a brush. “In my head, I was like, my goodness, be careful!”
Horning said. “The brush strokes that I am used to didn’t work. It’s less of a brush and more of a pat. It was a little nerve-wracking, but it was a total new experience.” Horning said she loves that she contributed “a couple of little brush strokes” to restore the painting to its original beauty. “I was thrilled that I got to be a part of it. It gave me a newfound respect for things that have been restored.” Horning also spent time with Johnson learning about the techniques used to create and restore the large gilt frame. The three other students’ hands-on lessons lay with cinematographer Adrian Selkowitz, who is documenting the project as a film. Hayley Madl, a senior history-political science major from Beaver, Pa., and Devon Briggs, a junior double major in history-political science and international affairs from Port Allegany, Pa., have been researching the history of the painting’s original owner and the hotel where it hung for 40 years before being crated and stored.
EMERY HOTEL THE LINK BETWEEN PITT-BRADFORD AND BRADFORD’S MILLIONAIRE ERA
T
he Emery Hotel played a brief, but memorable, part in Pitt-Bradford’s history. The original luxury hotel was built by Grace Emery in memory of her millionaire father on the eve of the Great Depression. Emery had spared no expense in building the top-of-the-line hotel. The new hotel had seven stories and 105 guest rooms. From a telephone in every guest room to a mahogany baby grand piano in the lobby, Grace Emery’s vision was one of home and friendliness but wrapped in luxury. A huge neon “Emery” sign on the roof lit up the night. A dark blue flag with the Emery family crest and the words “Fidelis et Suavis” or “Faithful and Courteous” flew from the balcony, and all 61 hotel employees, recently hired,
20 PORTRAITS
were expected to honor that creed. There was a barber shop with three barbers, an orchestrope phonograph on the seventh floor that held 26 records and could pipe music to every room and also be used as a paging system, a telephone switchboard, a cigar and newsstand, a laundry, and two elevators. An all-electric kitchen could serve 500 meals a day. Each room had its own toilet and washstand (unheard of in other Bradford hotels!) and either a bathtub or a shower. The bellhops wore navy blue doublebreasted jackets with the name “Emery” embroidered in gold on the sleeve. The doorman wore a long blue overcoat with wide lapels and a military style hat with “E” written in gold braid. There was a coffee house patterned after an old Early American tavern, and a main dining room. There were also
five stores on the first floor, all of which faced the public square and three offices for professional men. A private dining room, named the Venetian Room, featured a ceiling “finished with clouded effects embellished with blocks of various colors to harmonize with the large painting.” The large painting referred to was “Promenade in Venice,” a 19th-century life-size depiction of the Renaissance painter Paolo Veronese gliding through Venice in a gondola. Painted by the Italian artist Tommaso Juglaris, the painting had been purchased by Grace Emery’s father, Pennsylvania State Sen. Lewis Emery, who traveled extensively and brought home eclectic items from around the world. Other items in his collection that were not relocated to the hotel included a Persian javelin inlaid with sliver, Egyptian vases from Alexan-
winter 2021
