Help! I have a giant painting trapped in my house!

[steamedxmaspudding]

This will out me to anyone who knows me but...

I have a giant oil painting upstairs in my house (about 2m square) which I have to move as we're having some building work done in a couple of weeks. Only problem is, it won't fit down the stairs! Or into any of the other rooms on that floor. What the hell do I do? I love it and really don't want to damage it. I have been in touch with various art conservators/reframers etc but none of them have been able to help or even offer any advice.

Current plan is to take it off the frame (it's not framed under glass, just canvas stretched over wood) and then just bend it a little bit to get it downstairs but I'm really worried about the paint cracking 😫

Any ideas gratefully received!

A piano move is also on Steptoe and Son- where a chap wants an old and large grand piano taken out from his house-

That is so realistic- in the end, after struggling they just leave it wedged in the staircase and get back to the horse and cart waiting outside.

Annoyingly you tube only show {now} it in appalling quality to dodge the BBC spyware.

Hi OP.

I’ve only ready your replies so sorry if this has already been suggested.

If builders are knocking down walls could they additionally remove the circled part, have you slide painting into that room for storage and then they could rebuild that part of wall once painting in/at end of building project?

good luck.

Thank you to everyone for your tips and advice!

Some new avenues for investigation here for sure - I will be contacting builders re banisters, movers re their specialist pivoting skills 😁and will try the cardboard mock-up thing as well as that could be v useful.

I will return and update, building work starts in 3 weeks so it's going down those stairs one way or another!

I am absolutely no expert and someone may have suggested this and it may not be possible at all.... but would it be possible to get it reframed into say 3 panels? it would make it a bit more flexible for re-locating in the future as well.

you mention that the wall it's on is coming out? Looking at the photo, I don't think the current hall width would allow it to go over the bannister (not enough space to angle it enough). If you wrap it and move it forward next to the bannister, and then the builders knock down the wall, I think you will have space to angle it over the bannister and lower it down.

Me too. Was expecting a wondrous tale......

I bid online for a painting, and son went to collect it in his van- he said ''Mum, it's HUGE- you must have muddled centimetres for inches- it's not 55cms, it's 55 INCHES.

I was cussing..Thankfully when he walked in with it, It was 55cms - he was just having a joke with me.

@SoupDragon I was thinking of slings attached to the ceiling not the wall, but appreciate it could be precarious anyway given the proximity of the wall to be removed. Seeing a larger graphic though, it's too tall to swing upwards over those pesky bannisters and there's a lighting connection in the way too, so in this particular instance, scratch that idea.

I feel very invested in this thread for some reason - it reminds me of the plate down the back of the loo.

good luck op!

I love this thread!
If it definitely has to go downstairs, it has to be taken off the frame so decide whether, once down, it will be going straight to a framer or whether it can fit into whichever downstairs room it's going in.
Get 3 people to help you. 2 of you take it off the frame on the landing, bend it just enough to back through the blue door and then down the stairs. The other 2 meanwhile are taking apart the frame and bringing that downstairs.
Then it's all either put in the framer's van to be reframed or if it won't fit back in the house, reframed and put back up in situ.
So invested in finding out what you do. I love the painting (and also love where it is at the moment. Brilliantly bonkers!)

If the wall it is on is being removed, will that area then be a much bigger space? So would the builders then be able to work around it (protected by a framed box made to measure - plywood). So the awkwardness might be very temporary. However I know you said it needs to go downstairs long term so probably wouldn’t work.

My other idea is to very temporarily remove the canvas from the frame only on the top and a bit down either side. Cut the wooden frame off where you have removed the painting. This would run the risk of cracking the painting but you could try rolling it on the tubes mentioned before. Basically reduce the size to fit and then when downstairs, reattached the cut off part of the frame using metal brackets etc and reattach the canvas. It would at least mean that only part of the painting might be cracked/damaged. You might choose which side would be less obvious and remove from that side (eg top/bottom). Not sure I’m explaining this clearly…

To those commenting on it, removing a window is a fairly standard way of getting a piano into an awkward room. Cranes are also quite common for upstairs locations!
I’m also getting reminiscences of the old Bernard Cribbins song “Right Said Fred!”
In this case, have you tried working the procedure backwards from the intended location downstairs, since you say the painting is going to
have to come out if you’re hoping to move? This may provide a solution.
I also used to have some connection with the Museums Association which I imagine still exists. They published a book of all kinds of relevant suppliers including specialist removers and conservators which is now probably online; Perhaps you could find some help there.

There are such things as fine art removal companies. I know someone who works for one. They do the auction houses and Lord and Lady Snodgrass...and you!

Can I suggest you speak to a local moving firm and ask them for advice... they will have seen situations like this quite often.

I'd approach a picture framer to tackle this. They should be aware of the risks old canvases present and know how to avoid damage when lifting those tacks holding the canvas onto the frame. I do think you'll have to compromise the structural integrity of the frame, as that's the rigid part that's preventing it from being bent enough to get it through door frames, etc. Obviously they'd have to come to your house to do it in situ.

I've used picture framers to have old artworks reframed and have been pleased with their knowledge of preservation of older works - use of acid free papers and the like. I have venerable samplers and 1600s maps, for example. I've a pen and ink illustration from 1880s that looks like it was intended for use in Punch (although I don't suppose it ever did). It had glue all round the outside where it had been superglued to a mount - such a mess. 😬

Well...
I've got a sort of feeling,
If you remove the ceiling,
With a rope or two you could pull the blighter through.
Then have another cup of tea.

haven't rtft so someone may have suggested it already, but maybe ask a friendly removals company what they'd do? is there enough room to get it over the bannister and 'drop' it down the stairs?

Was his name Leroy Gibbs by any chance ?😂

No! Had to Google that. Boringly, Mr Gasp has no idea how or even if his cousin got the boat out of his house, but I think it wasn't by taking the basement wall down brick by brick.

Not sure why the Youtube video in my earlier post isn't working (at least it isn't for me so I'm guessing it's the same for everyone) but this is the video:

Then your painting is doomed

You need a picture framer to make a home visit. If it's on canvas they should be able to remove that from the frame and roll it up safely, then reassemble in the place where it needs to go to.

If you cannot figure out any way whatsoever to move it downstairs and you still want to keep it, would you consider cutting some of the top off and getting the smaller resulting picture reframed? At least then, you don't fully lose it in view of the emotional attachment.

Can you saw the frame with the painting still attached, then it'll fold around corners slightly. Then use brackets to fix the wood back whole when you are done. Better than removing the whole thing from the frame. So essentially a cut middle of top and bottom frame.

Love the painting OP. I would either take the canvas off the frame but do not roll it, you can then get it down the stairs. Or take the bannisters out.