Holyoke Public Library

Holyoke Public Library displays 11 murals which were painted by Sante Graziani and installed in 1950. As part of a the library’s extension plan, EverGreene was engage to preserve and move four of these murals, as the wall was to be removed as part of the construction. The murals were to be re-installed on the upper level of the new addition.

For the removal, conservation, and re-installation of the murals, conservators first dry-cleaned and applied a protective varnish and facing. The canvases were removed mechanically, placed on sonotubes and stored until the re-installation.

EverGreene removed the facing, in-painted seams and minor losses, stabilized paint, and varnished the relocated murals. EverGreene also performed in-situ conservation treatments on the other seven murals, including cleaning and cosmetic inpainting, mitigating water-damaged stains on the sensitive casein-based paint and varnishing.