Love Bound and Wounded, 1881, by Simeon Solomon (1840-1905); oil pastel and graphite on medium-weight, cream-colored paper with moderate texture. Georgetown University Art Collection; Booth Family Center for Special Collections.
This drawing had been mounted onto a poor-quality and acidic matboard, likely in the middle of the twentieth century. As a result, the drawing had thick adhesive residues and matboard remnants along all edges; and unfortunately covering the artist's own pastel markings at the right edge. The adhesive remains were gum-based and water soluble, which meant conservators could apply moisture with damp swabs to remove it. Pastel drawings are friable, and that means the intellectual/artistic content can easily flake or fall away and be lost. Conservators took extreme care to remove the matboard by float-washing the drawing so that the adhesives could release from the back without disturbing the content on the front. Removing the matboard revealed an unfinished drawing on the back that appears to be in the same hand as the artist and could possibly be the start of an earlier version of this artwork.