Paintings from hundreds of years ago are hard to come by outside of museums.
When they are found in private collections or elsewhere, they often have a yellow or brown look to them. Why is that? Historically, varnish has been used to protect the paint and seal it in. Unfortunately, as these works of art have aged, the varnish has made the paintings look dirty and obscured their beauty.
Fortunately, there are art experts out there who know how to restore these paintings to their former glory. Watching them do it is incredible.
Philip Mould recently posted a video to Twitter of his restoration of a “Lady in Red” painting. It’s nearly 400 years old and from a private collection, though not much is known about the subject of the painting.
“We started restoration of the painting… after extensive testing of the varnish on an oil surface on oak panel. A mixture of gel and solvent was created, specifically just to remove the varnish and not to damage the underlying paint,” Mould said.
Watch the amazing transformation below! This is mind-blowing.
A remarkable Jacobean re-emergence after 200 years of yellowing varnish 1/2 pic.twitter.com/yBGNGDcNd7
— Philip Mould (@philipmould) November 6, 2017
(via BoredPanda)