The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware  19735

Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:         Jessell, Bettina, 1917- 2003               

Title:               Papers

Dates:             ca. 1960-2002

Call No.:         Col. 729

Acc. No.:        02x172

Quantity:        21 boxes (7 cu. ft.)

Location:        505 E 3-4, F 1-2

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

Bettina Maria Anna Arndt Jessell was a paintings conservator.  She was born in Breslau, Germany on September 20, 1917.  Her father, Fritz Arndt, was a highly respected professor of organic chemistry.  The Arndts moved to Oxford, England in the early 1930s.  She studied painting and history of art at the University of Vienna’s Academy of Art from 1936-1938, but the Nazi takeover of Austria forced her to leave before earning her diploma.  She also took classes in chemistry and engineering. 

 

From 1938 to 1940, Mrs. Jessell apprenticed with Helmut Ruhemann, studying painting restoration and conservation.  Before she became a conservator, she spent the war years working as a civil engineer and designer.  After she entered the conservation profession, she worked at Monticello, the National Gallery (Washington), the Smithsonian Institution, the National Portrait Gallery (London), and other museums.  However, she preferred her private conservation practices near London (called White Cottage Studio) and in the Washington, D.C. area (called Art Restoration Center).  Restoration of Spanish Colonial paintings came to be a specialty.  Mrs. Jessell also taught workshops on panel painting and inpainting techniques.  When the American Institute for Conservation honored her with the Sheldon and Caroline Keck award in 1996, she was especially commended for her mentoring of young conservators.

 

Bettina Jessell was a fellow of the International Institute for Conservation and of the American Institute for Conservation, and was a member of the British Picture Restorers Guild and the Washington Conservation Guild.  She married Hubert Jessell in 1950, and they had three children.  (Hubert Jessell worked for the Federal Aviation Authority and the British Embassy.)  The Jessells lived in the US in 1968-1971 and moved here permanently in 1982.  She retired from conservation in 2002 and died in California in 2003.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The collection consists of Bettina Jessell’s treatment records and business papers.  The bulk of the collection is treatment reports, which are filed by name of owner, except for the reports done at White Cottage Studio, which came in one large folder.  The treatment reports may include photos, a description of the condition of the painting when brought into her studio, a description of the work performed, invoices, and correspondence.  Mrs. Jessell’s other files include articles she wrote, texts of a couple of lectures, proposed treatments (apparently not carried out), and slides used for workshops and lectures.

 

 

ORGANIZATION

           

The files are in two series: treatment reports, and business papers.  Legal size business papers are found in Box 20, after the other files.

 

 

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

 

The materials are in English, except for a book in German.

 

 

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

 

Collection is open to the public.  Copyright restrictions may apply.

 

 

PROVENANCE

           

Gift of Bettina Jessell.

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

 

People:

            Ruhemann, Helmut.

 

Topics:

            Art restorers.

            Art – Conservation and restoration.

            Painting – Conservation and restoration.

            Photographs.

            Slides.

 

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 505 E 3-4, F 1-2

 

 

Series I: Treatment reports

 

Box 1:

 

Folder 1:          A

 

Folder 2:          Aiken

 

Folder 3:          Art Premier

 

Folder 4:          Austin, Josiah T.

 

Folder 5:          Ba

 

Folder 6:          Be-Bu

 

Folder 7:          Bennett, David

 

Folder 8:          Benson, Johan

 

Folder 9:          Brenbridge, Norman

 

Folder 10:        Brewlaw, Iliana

 

 

Box 2:

 

Folder 1:          C

 

Folder 2:          C. Dudley Brown and Associates

 

Folder 3:          Carpenter, Joan

 

Folder 4:          Clarke, L.

 

Folders 5-6:     Colasante, Peter, and Gallerie L’Enfant        

 

Folder 7:          Corcoran Gallery of Art

 

Folder 8:          Curtin, Paul

 

 

Box 3:

 

Folder 1:          Da-De

 

Folder 2:          de Kornfeld, Maria

 

Folder 3:          Di-Du

 

Folders 4-5:     Duerst, Elvin

 

Folder 6:          E         

 

Folder 7:          F

 

 

Box 4:

 

Folder 1:          Fedalei, Marcella

 

Folder 2:          Firestone, Mr. and Mrs.

 

Folders 3-4:     Folger Library

 

Folder 5:          G        

 

Folder 6:          Gaulladet University: slides

 

Folder 7:          Grant, Susan

 

Folder 8:          H

 

 

Box 5:

 

Folder 1:          Hampton House

 

Folder 2:          Hall, David

 

Folder 3:          Hardin, James

 

Folders 4-5:     Herbert, Mimi

 

Folder 6:          Hoeffel, Mrs. K.M.

 

Folder 7:          Howard, Jeff

 

Folder 8:          Ignatius, Nancy

 

Folder 9:          Ihre, Suzanne

 

Folder 10:        J

 

Folder 11:        Jessell, Thomas, and Dodd, Jane

 

Folder 12:        K

 

Folder 13:        L

 

 

Box 6:

 

Folders 1-5:     Larkin, John [continues in next box]

 

 

Box 7:

 

Folder 1:          Larkin, John

 

Folder 2:          Leahy, Robert B.

 

Folder 3:          Library of Congress

 

Folder 4:          Ma-Mc

 

Folder 5:          McKee, K.R.

 

Folder 6:          McLeod, Bruce

 

Folder 7:          McPhee

 

Folder 8:          Me-Mu

 

Folder 9:          Meyer, Robert

 

Folder 10:        Minnesota Museum of Art

 

 

Box 8:

 

Folder 1:          Monks, Robert

 

Folder 2:          N

 

Folder 3:          Naff, Kathy

 

Folder 4:          National Archives

 

Folder 5:          National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.)

 

Folder 6:          National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.): Bazille, Frederic, “Potted Plants”

 

Folder 7:          National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.): Bellows, George, “Polo Crowd”

 

Folder 8:          National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.): de la Fresnaye, Roger, “Still Life, Coffee Pot, Melon”

 

Folder 9:          National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.): Matisse, Henri, “Still Life with Napkin and Purro”

 

Folder 10:        National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.): Renoir, “Ball at the Moulin de la Calette”

 

Folder 11:        National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.): Seurat, Georges, “The Island of La Grande Jette”

 

Folder 12:        National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.): Toulouse-Lautrec, “Marcelle Lender in Chilperic”

 

 

Box 9:

 

Folders 1-3:     National Portrait Gallery (London)

 

 

Box 10:          

 

Folder 1:          National Trust: Decatur House

 

Folder 2:          National Trust: Woodlawn

 

Folder 3:          Needham

 

Folder 4:          O-P

 

Folder 5:          Philbrick, Ruth

 

Folder 6:          Quandt, E.

 

Folder 7:          R

 

Folder 8:          Rathbun, Carolyn

 

Folder 9:          Richards, Diana

 

 

Box 11:

 

Folders 1-2:     Rogers, Sandra

 

Folder 3:          Rooks, Charles           

 

Folder 4:          Saunders, William, and Queen of Apostles Church and St. Mary’s Church

 

Folder 5:          Sc-Si

 

Folder 6:          Schmeisser, William

 

Folder 7:          Schneider, Laura

 

Folder 8:          Schneider, Sara

 

Folder 9:          Schwartz, James

 

Folder 10:        Sm-Sy

 

Folder 11:        Smithsonian Institution

 

 

Box 12:

 

Folder 1:          Smithsonian Institution: Air and Space Museum

 

Folder 2:          Spychala, Daniel (St. John Church)

 

Folders 3-5:     St. Joseph’s University, Philadelphia

 

Folder 6:          St. Joseph’s University: Rev. Joseph Chorpennig: slides

 

Folder 7:          St. Joseph’s University: Carmen Croce: slides

 

 

Box 13:

 

Folders 1-2:     St. Luke’s Gallery (Washington, D.C.)

 

Folder 3:          T

 

Folder 4:          Tcherepnine

 

Folder 5:          Thomas, David

 

Folder 6:          Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation (Monticello)

 

Folder 7:          Thierot, Charles

 

Folder 8:          U

 

Folders 9-10:   United States Capitol

 

 

Box 14:

 

Folder 1:          United States Capitol: photographs and slides

 

Folder 2:          V

 

Folder 3:          Vaucrosson, Noel

 

Folder 4:          W

 

Folder 5:          Warner, K.

 

Folders 6-7:     White Cottage Studio

 

Folder 8:          Wright, R.C.

 

Folder 9:          Y-Z

 

 

Box 15:

 

Folder 1:          treatment slides without reports: alphabetically by name of owner

 

Folder 2:          treatment slides without reports: owners unknown

 

 

 

Series II: Business papers

 

Box 16:

 

Folder 1:          American Institute for Conservation fellowship

 

Folder 2:          American Institute for Conservation: meeting, 1988, New Orleans: post-prints of paper [includes paper by Jessell about a Bellows painting]

 

Folder 3:          American Institute for Conservation: meeting, 1992, Buffalo

 

Folder 4:          Appraisers

 

Folder 5:          Association of British Picture Restorers

 

Folder 6:          Business cards

 

Folder 7:          Class notes: materials and methods of European painters

 

Folder 8:          Cook, Ronald: Photographs

 

Folder 9:          Correspondence

 

Folder 10:        Correspondence re: Homer, Charles, “Dancing by Moonlight”

 

Folder 11:        De Vos painting

 

Folder 12:        Estimate of number of hours needed to conserve a painting or icon

 

 

Box 17:

 

Folder 1:          Getty Museum

 

Folder 2:          Inpainting refresher course

 

Folder 3:          International Institute for Conservation fellowship

 

Folder 4:          Interview: J.H. Stoner with B. Jessell about Helmut Ruhemann

 

Folder 5:          Jessell, Bettina: “A Study of Two Forged 15th Century Panel Paintings…”

 

Folder 6:          Jessell, Bettina: talk: “The Conservation and Restoration of the Carrickfergus Madonna”

 

Folder 7:          Jessell, Bettina: talk: “Restoration of Paintings,” given at Jewish Community Center

 

Folder 8:          Lab book, March 1995-May 1998

 

Folder 9:          Lab book, May 1998-December 2001

 

Folder 10:        Master of Frankfurt

                        [see also treatment report for Aiken]

 

Folder 11:        Mecklenburg, Marian: thesis, “Some Aspects of the Mechanical Behavior of Fabric Supported Papers”

 

Folder 12:        Miniatures

 

Folder 13:        Note cards: artists’ signatures and other notes

 

 

Box 18:

 

Folders 1-3:     Photographs and negatives: miscellaneous    

 

Folder 4:          Proposed treatments: Alexandria Association

 

Folder 5:          Proposed treatments: Australian Embassy

 

Folder 6:          Proposed treatments: Department of the Interior

 

Folder 7:          Proposed treatments: Department of the Treasury

 

Folder 8:          Proposed treatments: General Services Administration

 

Folder 9:          Proposed treatments: General Services Administration, Atlanta, “Spring in Georgia”

 

Folder 10:        Proposed treatments: General Services Administration: defunct or refused

 

Folder 11:        Proposed treatments: Great Blacks in Wax Museum, Inc.

 

Folder 12:        Proposed treatments: Howard University Library

 

Folder 13:        Proposed treatments: Mount Pleasant Public Library (D.C.)

 

Folder 14:        Proposed treatments: S.W. Monroe Construction Co.

 

Folder 15:        Proposed treatments: United States Geological Survey

 

Folder 16:        Washington (state) Artist Trust

 

Folder 17:        Winterthur Museum: Port Royal Society

 

 

Box 19: legal size files

 

Folder 1:          Conference on Lining Techniques, 1974 (England)

 

Folder 2:          “Crib” – scrapbook of pictures of body parts

 

Folder 3:          Inpainting

 

Folder 4:          Jessell, Bettina: articles and other writings

 

Folder 5:          Jessell, Bettina: “A Study of the Paint Layers of a Portrait of Dr. Johnson by Reynolds”

 

Folder 6:          UNESCO: the care of paintings

 

 

Box 21: Slides

 

Folder 1:          Guide to the colored dots on slides

 

Folder 2:          American Institute for Conservation, 1976, Dearborn – workshop on inpainting, and display panels

 

Folder 3:          American Institute for Conservation, 1979, San Francisco – “Spanish Colonial Paintings”

 

Folder 4:          American Institute for Conservation, 1986, Chicago – “Flemish-Spanish Fakes”

 

Folder 5:          American Institute for Conservation, 1988, New Orleans - Bellows

 

Folder 6:          American Institute for Conservation, 1992, Buffalo – “An Aid to Inpainting” and “Blending”

 

Folder 7:          Carrickfergus Madonna

 

Folder 8:          International Institute for Conservation, 1992, Madrid

 

Folder 9:          Lecture: “Forgeries and Real Paintings”

 

Folder 10:        lecture at Jewish Community Center

 

Folder 11:        miscellaneous topics

 

Folder 12:        Smithsonian Institution: National Museum of American History: astronomical globe

 

 

Book on shelf:

            Eudel, Paul, Falscherkunste  (Leipzig, 1909) (a book translated by Mrs. Jessell)