For example, Goya’s “[Black Paintings](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Paintings)” were originally murals painted on the walls of his home, but were later transferred to canvas. How did they do that?
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Goya’s black paintings are bit of an unusual case because although they were painted onto the walls, it was actually on top of wallpaper and it was the wallpaper that was removed from the walls and then glued onto canvases, not the actual wall itself.
That doesn’t sound like a thing that’s done often but theoretically you adhere a material to the surface to hold it all together in one piece and right place (like a thin layer of paper and using adhesive that is possible to clean with a solvent thats not affecting the paint layer, like water based glue is usually alright for oil paintings). Then remove the layer you want to remove and transfer the painting layers to the intended surface. The removal is really dependent on what kind of materials the original work is made off/on. I haven’t read about any specific case where this has been executed but that’s how I imagine it would go base don my meager restoration experience. It’s really not a thing that would be performed if not for last resort. I have seen whole walls relocated tho 😀
It depends on the support.
For panel paintings, you put the thing face-down on tissue paper, then get a scalpel and spend *two years* with a microscope cutting the wood off the back. The final bit is easy: paint some glue on a prepared canvas, lay it over what’s left of the panel, press down firmly, and lift it up (while crossing your fingers).
There’s a terrible story about someone who did this with a Bellini. He spent two awful years doing the scraping and seeing occasional visitors. Of course there was no painting to see (the panel was face down) so he’d lift a corner of the tissue paper and put a drop of turps on the virgin’s face. The paper would go completely transparent and the audience would gasp at her beauty etc.
You can guess what’s coming: he did it one time too many and instead of Bellini’s wonderful virgin’s face, there was a horrid “plop” sound and to the horror of the onlookers that section of paint collapsed in a puddle. The face you see in the transferred painting today is his patch up job :/
Link is to a video from Baumgartner Restoration. In this one, he transfers a painting on paper mounted to wood to an a acid-free board. Great channel with amazing explanations of technique!
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