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!

I really like it @steamedxmaspudding it's a bit Pieter Brueghel isn't it.

If you can manage it yourself get a joiner/ builder to make a protective crate 2 sheets of plywood and some timber should protect it

effectively make a plywood box for it to go in and leave it in the room

I'd try removal firms - that are even Fine art removal firms and some with Storage if you want it out way till next house - at very least one of those may know best way of transporting if it does have to get taken of stretcher - problem may be cost though damaged oil painting may be just as expensive.

call a removal company they prob deal with this sort of thing all the time.

Removal for fine art is very expensive. They have the same options as OP: take the canvas off the frame, take the bannisters out, or take it through the window.

They can offer crating and storage. But it will cost you.

I did say it would cost - and only mentioned it as given size in picture not sure window and banister are real options though maybe experienced movers can make them work.

So if it has to come off stretcher I'd at least get a quote as their expertise and later storage options may avoid damage rather than wing it and hope - but would depend on OP budget and what they quote.

Contact an art conservationist to take it off the frame and then replace it once relocated. I have an artist friend who moved the country with most off her oil paintings rolled up.

Hi OP I am a conservator, although not for paintings so can't advise directly. Have a look at the Conservation Register (if you haven't already) in case there are any conservators here you haven't tried yet, this register is run by the Institute for Conservation, the professional body for conservators, and lists accredited professionals Quality conservators - Icon - The Institute of Conservation (conservationregister.com)

If you want to try art handlers, these are some of companies that I have used before and can recommend:
Constantine: Fine art logistics for private collectors, museums & galleries Momart
C'ART ART TRANSPORT LTD (cart.uk.com)

Agree with previous poster that professional conservators/art handlers are likely to be costly.

Good Luck!

Certainly some advice would be good but the quote will come out more than the value of the picture.

Yes: I know someone who qualified as an art conservator and specialist framer, with letters after her name and a certificate, after a couple of short courses. Now makes a good living charging people five times as much for framing and advice than the artwork is worth. If you're talking about non-gallery/ museum / professional collector quality then probably not worth the money.

Can you wait until they knock down the wall and get it out that way if you take it down and wrap it up well to protect it?

OP your picture is amazing!!!

What character it must add to the house (when it’s not just surrounded by plaster!)

I’d actually advertise/ask for suggestions on FB.

I wouldn’t usually go down this route, BUT some general handy men (hella lot cheaper than a specialist which will be ££££s) have been doing it for donkeys years. Some (not all, you’ll have to do some diligence - which ones are interested in overcoming the challenges verse ‘alright darlin’ I’ll send the lads over and they’ll take £200 cash’

Our handy man is ‘retired’ - he’s spent his whole life on various sites in London (he’ll drop into conversation about working in Teresa May’s office, national history, Russian Billionaire’s mansion that decided to completely renovate 7 years after the first renovation but he never actually stayed a night there…) etc. He’s spent half his life working in listed buildings.

There’s plenty of other tradies out there the same. Ours love a challenge and I’ve met some others the same.

You ask a removals company and they’ll just charge you a premium (but will be insured…)

I have no idea what the picture is worth - missed OP saying that - or what she said her budget was or what she is willing to pay.

All I said it's an option she can explore - and an expensive one.

I wouldn't be shocked if the quote came back as more than the painting worth -then it's get into what's it worth to the OP emotionally.

I have an object that I'm the forth generation to own - manageable size- older I get the more I'm willing to pay out to protect it so I can pass it on. It's less about it's intrinsic value lowered by minor damage prior to my ownership and much more emotional connection to departed family members.

I'm not sure OP has that level on connection but sometimes with items it's not just money.

I think as you’ve built around it, it’s not coming out in one piece. And I love a challenge like this. I imagine there’s advice online about carefully taking it off and preventing cracking.

Take a window out - we had to do it for a chesterfield - slots right back in no problem

Pfft, minor technicality!

What’s the building work?

Can it not just be covered in plastic and stored in one of the rooms?

is it just the upstairs wall removed or ground floor too?
in which case if protected wrapt can builders then drop it down?(like loft plan/but in reverse

Hang it where it’s going be hung, then get the builders to drill some timber into the wall around it and some plywood on top. Basically protect it in situ with a plywood cover so it’s out of the way on the wall. You could ask the builders to add that onto their quote and do that first.

It needs to go downstairs though. There won't be anywhere for it to be hung upstairs.

To be fair, it should fit between the joists but you might need to remove a nogging or two temporarily.

Find a specialist art courier, explain the problem, pay them to package it as if for shipping but for protection in situ and leave it resting against the banister/other wall/shift around as appropriate.

This kind of thing:

https://www.crownfineart.com/services

https://chrisbennettartcarrier.com/

I have transported a similar size oil painting OP. You should be able to undo the fixings which hold the stretchers ( the wood it is in) together, without removing them from the painting itself . This means you are left with a much more flexible object, four bits of wood held together with fabric. You should be able to manoeuvre this more easily.

Hi @steamedxmaspudding did you find a solution in the end? What happened?

@martinisforeveryone sorry I did mean to come and update! In my defence I have had a baby in the interim 😅

In the end we realised that there was just enough space on the wall to keep it up so we just left it there and they worked round it. So a bit of a cop-out and I will still have to figure out what to do with it as we are still planning to move this year! Quotes from professional art moving/restoration people were ridiculously expensive so I will probably just have to take it off the frame, fashion some sort of rollers out of cardboard and give it my best shot...