St. Vincent Ferrer, Stations of the Cross—Private
The Church of St. Vincent Ferrer is a Catholic parish located at 869 Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, NY. The present building is the third built by the Dominican Fathers on or near the current site. It was completed in 1918 by architect Bertram G. Goodhue, who was also responsible for the design of St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue just a few years earlier. Goodhue designed St. Vincent Ferrer in the Gothic Revival style using a Latin Cross plan. It was designated a New York City Landmark in 1967 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 as a stunning example of Gothic Revival architecture.
In 2019 the EverGreene conservation team was contracted by the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena to conduct an inventory, complete a cursory assessment of conditions, and conduct conservation cleaning tests on a variety of objects and architectural materials. Included this work were the fourteen oleaginous paintings on canvas in the nave known as the Stations of the Cross, which were painted by Telford and Ethel Paullin in 1921. The works were found to be in need of numerous conservation treatments. While each work had different requirements, an overview of conservation treatments performed includes:
- Surface cleaning of the front and back
- Stabilization and consolidation of areas of deterioration, as required
- Relining of the canvas, as required
- Application of isolation coat prior to loss compensation
- Loss compensation of both paint and substrate, as required
- Application of protective coatings
- Touchups to the frame, as required
- Reframing of the canvas
The works were removed and treated at the EverGreene conservation studio in two phases: October 2023 and after Easter 2024. The works were reinstalled in September 2024 and the church was provided with a treatment report with maintenance recommendations to ensure the longevity of the works and conservation treatments performed.
