32 
MuseoMag   N°II 2025 
REVIVING PRINCE HENRY 
How we restored a 19th-century crayon portrait 
While researching the new exhibition Luxembur- 
ger Bundeskontingent. Militär und Gesellschaft im 19. 
Jahrhundert at the Musée Dräi Eechelen, the curators 
of the show came across an oval portrait of Prince 
Henry of the Netherlands (approx. 1878) stored in 
our museum’s depot. This work by the Luxembour- 
gish artist Michel Engels (1851-1901) was originally 
mounted in an elaborate oval wooden frame. 
Before restoring the work, it was important to un- 
derstand how the portrait was made. Although it was 
thought to be a drawing, certain details suggested it 
might have been created using a different method. 
The first layer of the image was made of charcoal 
and black chalk. When magnified, the paper fibers 
were clearly visible and the image was continuous in 
tone, covered by a coating which had a slight sheen 
and was made up of silver particles. The production 
period, the structure typical of salt prints and the 
charcoal in the portrait led us to conclude that the 
portrait is actually a crayon enlargement. 
CRAYON ENLARGEMENTS EXPLAINED 
Crayon enlargements, also known as crayon por- 
traits, were a popular form of photographic art in the 
late 19th and early 20th centuries. For many people, it 
was the first affordable form of portraiture, offering a 
cheaper alternative to painted portraits. Crayon en- 
largements were the first photographic process that 
made it possible to produce large-scale images of 
people. 
The crayon enlargement process started with a 
low-quality photograph. Sometimes, the image was 
faded and sometimes it was sharp. The image was 
then drawn straight onto the photograph with pas- 
The portrait of Prince Henry had various issues and was quite complex to treat due to its multiple layers and different 
materials. 
© 
éric chenal