Common Slip, Charles Wellens, 1915

Born in 1889, Charles Wellens was the eldest son of a brewery owner in Lummen, Belgium, but rather than join the family business he became an artist. In August 1914, during their invasion of Belgium, German soldiers passing through Lummen burned down 63 buildings, including the Wellens family home and much of Charles Wellens’ early works. Unable to serve in the army due to a childhood eye injury, Charles fled to Holland and then England, settling in Chippenham.

Here he continued painting, and even taught local residents how to paint. He showed his work at the Neeld Hall and St Paul’s Church to raised funds for the Red Cross. At the end of the war he returned to Belgium, where he became interested in local history and helped establish the Open Air Museum in Bokrijk. In Belgium there is a permanent exhibition of his work in Lummen and a Charles Wellens Society. In the UK, we believe this painting to be one of only two paintings by Wellens in public collections, both are owned by Chippenham Museum.

Painting before conservation and detail of tear.

The painting has recently been conserved, revealing it has had as almost a dramatic life as its creator, although we sadly know nothing about its previous owners. Soon after the painting was made, the canvas was lined for extra support. This may have happened around the time a large vertical tear in the painting occurred, which was repainted to hide the repair. From a label on the reverse we know the painted underwent restoration again in the 1960s. The tear was repainted again, and the whole painting varnished, but for some reason it was not cleaned, as the varnish was applied over a layer of dirt. Between then and its arrival at the museum, another layer of varnish had been applied and more dirt had accumulated on the surface, as well as another puncture damage to the canvas. This resulted in the very dirty yellow appearance of the painting seen in the before image.

The painting was sent to Institute of Conservation accredited conservator Rosalind Whitehouse, who is based in Frome. After carefully removing the multiple layers of dirt and varnish, Rosalind was able to the repair the tear and the hole, before retouching them to make them less visible. All of this was done in such a way as to be completely reversible in the future if required.

Conservation of this painting was made possible by the On Display! Grant, awarded by South West Museum Development, with thanks to support from Arts Council England.