Technical Notes
The painting's primary support is a tightly woven plain-weave canvas. The average thread count is twenty-two threads per centimeter vertically and twenty-nine threads per centimeter horizontally. Cusping is visible along the edges. Because the dimensions of the canvas have been changed more than once, there are a variety of empty tacking holes. The present tacking edges have between .7 centimeter and two centimeters of original paint from the design area extending over them.

A photograph taken in 1934 confirms that the reduction in the original canvas dimensions is limited to that which now extends over the tacking edges. This photograph shows the original tacking edge on the right side and the beginning of the tacking edge on the left and bottom edges. While the tacking edge along the top is not shown, cusping in the weave of the canvas suggests that the loss of original fabric is limited to the tacking edge.

The original canvas has numerous tears and punctures, including a large D-shaped tear in the sitter's jacket. An L-shaped tear visible just above the sitter's proper left eyebrow extends down to the corner of the eye, and an arching tear starts and ends on the left edge and encompasses the red flag with three crescents. Various punctures have also been repaired and inpainted.

The ground is a yellow earth tone and appears to have been applied by the artist. The application is uneven and does not hide the canvas texture. The yellow ground is visible in the midtone of the shadows of the face and hand. Past treatment records indicate that this ground layer is sensitive to solvents.

The edges and shadows of the face appear to have been outlined first with black. Other black outlining of forms can be seen throughout the painting. The face was built up by blending flesh tones wet-on-wet. The hair was first painted broadly and then scumbled over with grays, whites, and light blue. The black coat was painted thinly over the yellow ground. The paint is thickest in the clouds in the background.

The teeth of the skull were first painted as a band of gray, then further defined with painted black lines. The hand was painted using black outlines and thinly applied flesh tones over the yellow ground.

Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry conducted at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in preparation for the exhibition New England Begins revealed the presence of ultramarine pigment in the eyes and the British ensign. The artist also used lead white, earth color, red lead, vermillion, carbon black, and red lake.¹

The painting has a moderate network of age cracks throughout. Most areas are so thinly painted that they exhibit very little visible cracking. The cracking occurs primarily in the naval battle scene, where the paint layer is thicker. The darks have suffered extensive abrasion throughout.

The painting has a moderately thick varnish layer, which consists of Acryloid B-67 applied in 1978 and B-67 followed by Acryloid B-72 applied in 1982. The varnish is dull and uneven. Areas of blanching are visible, most noticeably in the coat, and the varnish does not effectively saturate the dark passages of paint. Previous conservation records note the difficulty of getting the blanched areas to saturate with varnish.

Notes
1. Fairbanks 1982, III, 475.