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Before treatment, the painting was dirty and heavily overpainted with a matte paint devoid of artistic modelling. There...Read more

After treatment, the painting is cleaned and restorer overpaint removed to reveal the original artist’s image. Old re...Read more

Before, a restorer had overpainted the entirety of the boys face to disguise a small tear through the mouth and previous...Read more

During treatment, the old restorer’s repairs, damages and areas of overcleaning have been uncovered, the lifting areas...Read more

After, the original painting of the young boy is revealed, as painted by the artist....Read more

Before, a restorer had overpainted the boy’s face inexpertly with matte paint and no modelling, changing his appearanc...Read more

After, the painting is cleaned of dirt, discolored varnish and overpaint, and the expert and original painting of the bo...Read more

Before, bottom right...Read more

After, bottom right, portions of the chair and covering are revealed. ...Read more

Before, bottom left. ...Read more

After, bottom left showing the removal of the overpaint revealing original interesting brushwork and detail. The liftin...Read more

Before, bottom left, the restorer overpainted the background and changed the chair. ...Read more

After, bottom left, the conservator stabilized the paint and canvas and revealed the original chair and an artist’s in...Read more

A conservator removes the thick matte brown overpaint from the background, revealing a different tone and original brush...Read more

Overpaint is removed around the signature and date. ...Read more

Use of ultraviolet light shows the conservator where older remnant varnish remains and allows the conservator to discern...Read more

Using custom-mixed organic solvents, the overpaint is removed from the boy’s face and the artist’s paint is left saf...Read more

Using custom-mixed organic solvents, the overpaint is removed from the boy’s face and the artist’s paint is left saf...Read more

The conservator inpaints the painting placing dots into the overcleaned areas and inpainting the textured fills we have ...Read more

We do not overpaint onto the artist’s paint, containing our retouch only within the area of paint loss for a crisp app...Read more

Thomas William Cole: Portrait of Thomas Stevenson Cole, 1890
oil on canvas, 31″ x 24″

Project Highlights

This family portrait of the owner’s grandfather was almost completely overpainted by a restorer in the past, and then the canvas was adhered to a board but a large repair area was lifting from the board. To save funds, the canvas was not removed from the board, but the unstable portions were brought down and stabilized. The portrait was carefully cleaned to remove all of the restorer’s overpaint and restorations, to reveal a skillfully painted family portrait of young Thomas, hidden for many years behind restorer paint.