O.K., this peeked also my interest. So I checked Art & Archaeology
Technical Abstracts and found one citation dealing with spiderwebs as
a support for watercolors (and another about conserving spiderwebs
and other natural history speciments). The relevant one even
mentions the species of spider:
Maggen, Michael.
Conservation of aquarelles on spiderwebs.
Affl: Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel.
In book. 12th triennial meeting, Lyon, 29 August-3 September 1999:
preprints (ICOM Committee for Conservation), Bridgland, Janet
(Editor) (1999), pp. 525-527, [English w. English summary.] 2 v. (x,
vi, 920 p.): ill., refs., index
Johann Burgmann, a provincial artist born in 1825 in St. Georgen
Bruneck, Tyrol, used spiderwebs as support for his watercolors. The
spiderweb is a natural silk of the Ausparassos wackenaerious [sic]
spider. The web thread is made of a high protein fiber complex which
is very strong, flexible, and water-resistant and can attain
significantly large dimensions in relation to the size of the spider
itself. The two watercolors were damaged because the fragile web
support had developed tears, deformations, losses, and a
disintegration of the fibers. Because of the extent of the damage and
the general fragility of the paintings, it was decided to remove them
from the original mats and line them with Japanese paper. The
drawings were reinforced and stabilized using extra adhesion to the
support, followed by local retouching to match the paintings'
appearance. The watercolors were placed on acid-free museum board and
framed in the original frames.
AATA No.: 36-2941
A.A.
Primary Classification:
G7 - Animal materials
Cross-Reference:
G1 - Paper, books, and library and archival materials
Index Terms:
aquarelle / Burgmann, Johann (b. 1825) / spider web / supports
(artists' materials)
Sounds like this topic would be great for a library school student
"web site" project!
Chhers,
Janine Henri
--
Head Librarian
Architecture and Planning Library
The General Libraries
P.O. Box P
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas 78713-8916
(512) 495-4623
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