Charles Oliver Murray 'Charles O. Murray': A Scottish etcher of landscapes, architectural subjects, portraits and historical views, Charles Oliver Murray studied at the Edinburgh School of Design and at the Royal Scottish Academy Schools. During the latter nineteenth century, Charles Oliver Murray produced many fine etchings and engravings after the designs of such contemporary artists as Alma-Tadema, Charles Whymper and W. G. Stevenson. By 1900, however, he turned to etching his own designs and created some sought after views of both Oxford and Cambridge colleges.
The picture is an etching as can be identified by the shape of the end of the line strokes (rounded for etching and sharp for engraving). It is made by a process called "Chine colle" in which fine eastern paper based on bamboo etc is pressed into western card, there is some starch glue to make them adhere. This picture was signed by Murray in pencil after printing in this way since his signature overlaps both types of paper.
The picture shows the wall stencilling, achievement, portrait of the foundress and four portraits on the pannelling behind dais.Tancred portrait on the left this picture was transferred to Caius College (cc00114), Milton's bust and sconces shown.
Date
1900 - 1920
Damaged in A4 after a storm on September 2nd 2012 that caused flooding in the Fellows' Building. The damage was staining at the bottom of the mount. The picture was returned to the store for repair. 3/9/12. The Museum Conservation Services, Building 213, Imperial War Museum Duxford, Cambridge CB22 4QR, TN 01223 830373. took the picture on 12/9/12 to clean for £500 +VAT (Nick Burnett).
Cleaning report dated 24/9/2012 stated:
The artwork was unframed and photographed before treatment. The paper was mechanically cleaned using grated "Staedtler Mars" plastic eraser (phthalate free) on selected areas and a soft brush. Most of the strawboard backing was mechanically removed. Methylcellulose swelling agent was used to soften the remaining board fibres and adhesive residue before removal using a blunt scalpel. The artwork was washed by immersion in degassed water and air dried. It was de-acidified with a short immersion in a solution of calcium hydroxide solution (pH 9). The print was resized using a solution of warm gelatine in water (3w% w/v) applied with a brush. Once dried, the artwork was humidified in a humidification chamber and dried between blotting paper and boards under light pressure. A piece of thin blotting paper was cut to the size of the plate mark and placed on top of the print to avoid flattening the plate mark.
The artwork was mounted using Japanese paper tabs at all four edges adhered with "shofu", Japanese wheat starch paste to a 2200micron thickness, off-white coloured, "Heritage" board (acid-free, 100% rag stock, un-buffered). A window mount was prepared using the same board. White gummed acid-free paper tape was used to seal the UV filtering glass to the frame and to seal the back of the mounted artwork. An aluminium foil barrier layer was added to the back of the frame. The frame was closed using green, acid-free, lignin-free, "Ecophant" buffered millboard.
