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Once one has decided that the time has come to clean an oil painting it is best to remove it from the frame.
Lay the painting, with the back up, upon a flat stable surface, such as a workbench or table, which is covered with a soft cushioning material, such as a doubled blanked or polyurethane foam, to avoid damaging the frame.
Carefully vacuum most of the dust of the back of the painting and frame.
Hand cut or wrought iron nails should be removed with care, using pliers and a flat piece of metal, such as an old ruler, for the pliers to lever against, thus avoiding damage to the frame.
On a piece of timber or board, previously marked in sections "Left", "Top", "Right", "Bottom", and those each, marked respectively, top-bottom, left-right, top-bottom, and left-right, then the nails can be stuck, using masking tape, so that they each can be re-used in the same position as it was removed.
Most often it is not necessary to remove the nails from the bottom as the painting is easily removed from the frame by just removing the other three rows.
Wire nails can often just be bend and bend back when the picture is replaced.
Using the crevice tool on the vacuum cleaner suck the dust carefully from between the canvas and the stretcher (the wooden frame upon which the canvas is stretched).
Great care is needed during the vacuuming to avoid the flaking or cracking of the paint, thereto ones often deploys a small blunt hooked knife to loosen the dust carefully between the canvas and stretcher during the vacuuming.
Also note if all the corner wedges are there as replacement wedges can be ordered while cleaning the painting.
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