Portrait of Woman with Book – 30×24
This painting had been in in the owner’s family for generations when a catastrophic house fire nearly destroyed it. The painting was put aside for nearly 2 decades before the owner decided to explore what could be done to remediate some of the damage.
The surface soot build-up was relatively easy to clean. However, the heat damage and cracking posed a much more difficult challenge. The heat had not only baked the varnish into the paint and cracked the surface. It had also caused hundreds of tiny blisters in the paint. This was a problem because the painting needed re-lining to address the cracking, but we knew that when this was done, it would pop all the small blisters, which would necessitate in-painting to touch them all up.
The owner decided to go ahead with the project, and to his absolute delight, the painting was significantly improved. While a 100% varnish removal was not possible due to the risk of removing paint and “skinning” the canvas, our restorer was still able to brighten the piece significantly.
The cracking was almost completely remediated, and the popped blisters were all filled & in-painted meticulously.
The painting once again is displayed for the family to enjoy.
Interested in getting your artwork restored? Learn more about the restoration process or Use our handy form and we’ll provide a free estimate.
