When a Painting Restoration Goes Wrong

This painting arrived together with three others Van Dyck, Rubens and the Jordans. All four portraits are of major painters connected to Antwerp. This one represents David Teniers, the younger, who obtained royal permission in the 17th century to establish what became the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, where Van Gogh would later study, but what makes this portrait particularly special is that the restoration proved far more demanding and challenging than I first expected. To begin with, I'll start by examining it under ultraviolet light the ultraviolet light helps me to understand better problems that are in this painting and i can see that those a little bit green reflections on the surface of the paint mean that there is a varnish we can see several areas a little bit darker that do reveal amounts of old retouch so if they are in all surface of the painting as we can see here we can also see much better the the green reflections so those areas are where the the varnish is much more thick but to remove this varnish of course the old retouch also will be affected it's a painting that really demonstrates that had already a lot of interventions in the past just a small update before i clean the painting i spoke with the owner of the painting and i explained to him that this painting is very dark so and it has a lot of retouch so a lot of retouch when i clean it of course the old retouch will come off and And after when I need to apply the retouch, the new retouch, it will look also a little bit darker. So I explained all of this to the owner. So now let's see what's going to happen, because by the exam that I made on UV light, a lot of old retouch will be removed. But let's see how this work develops. Before beginning the cleaning process I need to carry out a series of solvent tests. I normally use several solvents in a formula that suits best the painting that I'm working with. I knew the painting was covered with an old darkened varnish and I already knew that it had undergone several restoration in restoration interventions in the past and my aim was to find the cleaning system capable of removing the aged varnish while preserving the original paint as much as possible but there was another complication some of the old retouching could also be affected by the solvents that i used during the cleaning and the varnish removal This was something I had discussed with the owner before starting the restoration, and we had agreed to proceed fully aware of the risks involved. As the tests progressed, it became increasingly clear just how complicated this small portrait was going to be. and here is very clear those areas that still with varnish reflect a little bit more greenish and as the removing of the varnish progresses you can see that the old retouch is disappearing is being removed also it stays here in the cotton swab a lot of pigment that is the the old retouch that was applied on the past so the when everything starts to be removed both the varnish and the old retouch the painting starts to reveal a very very complicated situation because these areas that you are seeing more clear are the areas that where the paint was lost in the past and it was covered with the old retouch so it's not an easy or a good situation but when the the this old varnish is removed and all the the the retouch was also removed i stay with the painting free of the old varnish and free from the the old previous retouch and i'm going to isolate this layer so i'm going to apply first layer of varnish this will give some saturation to the remaining colors and will protect the the painting of further interventions so this is a process that for me also helps me in my future actions that i need to to apply to this painting this varnish is based in a resin and it's totally reversible so it's like the retouching colors that i apply they are totally reversible which means that any future restorer can also remove them completely in a very easy way with the old varnish and previous retouching removed I have now applied the new isolation varnish to protect the original painting from my next interventions and as you can see the lighter yellow areas are actually the original ground layer now exposed where the paint has been lost and if we look closely there's a slightly difference in height between the remaining paint and this ground layer before i begin any further procedures i will try to reduce this difference by applying a very thin layer of filling material made with the gesso and a small amount of pigment this will help to create a more even surface for the next stage of the restoration by the way i recently started a small newsletter called studio notes it's a place where i do share updates on the studio or ongoing restorations and some thoughts about art and conservation so if you'd like to join me you'll find the link below in the description thank you and i hope i can meet you there now it's time to prepare the filling material i'm using a conservation gesso that i have already prepared but it's a little too thick for this particular treatment so I will add a small amount of water to make it easier to work with I'm also adding a little pigment to give the filling material a color closer to the original ground layer and after mixing everything thoroughly I can begin applying it carefully to the areas where the original paint is missing. The aim is to reduce the slight difference in level between the exposed ground layer and the surrounding original paint, creating a more even surface for the retouching stage. Now that the filling process is complete I can begin the color integration. As you can see, there are large areas where the original paint is completely missing, leaving very little information about the original colors. For now, I'm going to apply some initial tones to these areas, just to make the portrait easier to read as a whole. But before going any further, there's something interesting I'd like to tell you about the man represented in this painting. His name is David Teniers, the Younger, and he played an important role in the artistic history of Antwerp. While working on the restoration of these missing areas, I thought it would be interesting to tell you a little bit more about the man represented in this portrait, David Teniers, the Younger, was one of the most important Flemish painters of the 17th century. He was particularly famous for his scenes of everyday life, village celebrations, taverns and even alchemists working on their laboratories. But Teniers was much more than a painter, he was also a court painter and played an important role in the artistic life of Antwerp. In 1663 he obtained permission from King Philip of Spain to establish an Academy of Fine Arts in the city. More than two centuries later, Vincent van Gogh would briefly study at this same Academy. Today, in the center of Antwerp, a statue honors David Teniers and his contribution to the city's artistic history. In his hand he holds a document representing the royal privilege granted in 1663 and now, more than three centuries after his death, here I am in the studio working on a portrait of him but there is still some delicate work to be done not every restoration ends the way we hope as you can see i've spent a lot of time trying to bring this little portrait back to life but i have to admit that i'm still not satisfied with the result one of the biggest challenges has been the amount of original paint that was already missing when you are restoring a painting with a small hole or a tear things are often much easier you usually have the original painting on both sides of the damaged area giving you enough information to reconstruct what's missing and restore the continuity of the image. But here, entire areas of the original painting have disappeared. There are no clear references to tell me exactly what those missing details looked like. And when those losses affect the face, even the smallest detail can completely change someone's expression. This is actually my second attempt at the color reintegration and although I've made some progress I'm still not happy with it. I've been looking at this painting for so long that I think I have reached a point where I am no longer seeing certain details as clearly as i should so i've decided to put it aside for a while i will focus on some other restoration projects and when i have had enough distance from this portrait i will come back to it with fresh eyes because for me this restoration isn't finished yet. Sometimes being a Restorer also means recognizing when it's time to stop, take some distance and return with a new perspective and that's exactly what I'm going to do with this little portrait of David Teniers.