Josh Oakley

September 4, 2013

                                                                                                                                    Art 1

First Period

The Restoration of Historic Art

The recent story about the 80-year-old woman who “restored” a portrait of Jesus at her church may have people wondering about how someone REALLY goes about restoring a piece of art.  Someone’s grandmother does simply walk up to a painting and start smearing paint around.  As is evidenced by granny’s efforts and results in Italy, some sort of process is to be be followed.

The entire process of restoring a painting is tedious and time-consuming.  First, a ultra-violet light scan is typically done.  This shows any previous restorations that have been done.  Next, the painting is test spot cleaned to see how it holds up to stronger and stronger solvents.  This is usually done using a cotton swab.

After seeing how the painting does in the spot clean, the whole canvas is cleaned.  This takes a while and removes years of old varnish and previous restoration. 

If necessary, the next step is to reline the canvas.  This must be done if the canvas is very old and/or damaged.  The painting may also be re-stretched at this point.

Lastly, the painting is “retouched” to match the original painter’s style, strokes, and color as closely as possible.  The painting is also varnished to protect it and make it last long.

After describing these steps it is easy to see that not just any “granny” can restore a painting!

References

"The Steps In Restoring A Painting." Welcome To Broadway Fine Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 04  Sept. 2013. <http://www.broadwayfineart.co.uk/info/the-steps-in-restoring/>.

"There’s a Surprise Happy Ending for That Catastrophically Botched Jesus Painting." The Blaze. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Sept. 2013. <http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/08/15/theres-a-surprise-happy-ending-for-the-catastrophically-botched-jesus-fresca-that-became-a-worldwide-sensation/>.