The secret under the varnish 😮 Who really painted this portrait?! | Restoration of a masterpiece!

I've received a new and interesting restoration project. I'd like to share it with you. It's a portrait of an unknown artist depicting a mysterious lady from the 10th century, but in the process of restoration. Well, I won't give spoilers. Watch the video to the end. It will be very interesting. I'm showing the condition of the painting before restoration. The work was kept in unfavorable conditions. You can see what catches the eye immediately. There's old yellowed, uneven varnish. Splashes of an unknown liquid, losses in the lower part, canvas tears and marks from bronze paint around the perimeter. The frame was updated, and in taking the painting out, they got it dirty. The painting has seen a lot. By the way, this piece arrived from another city, St. Petersburg, for restoration. Here is the reverse side of the painting. I pre-dusted it because both the front and back were very dusty. The stretcher is in quite good condition. I won't have to replace it. I will keep the original one. The first stage of restoration requires me to carefully remove the painting from the stretcher and take out the nails. Unusually for the 10th century, wire ones were used here. Usually forged nails with large heads are used. In this case, the nails were quite thin with small heads. They look a bit like modern ones, but these are the originals. The work hadn't been removed, it was still stretched with those same nails. I'm marking the painting and the edges, making notches so I can align it when stretching it back later. It's harder to stretch oval paintings, and to avoid shifting, I need to hit the size exactly. That's why I made a few marks with a simple pencil. And look, under the stretcher there was such heavy grime. It's like the fine dust and dirt that collects in a vacuum cleaner. All of this accumulates under the stretcher. Dust collects for decades and sometimes even centuries. And conservators have to remove all of this from under the stretcher. Look how much dust is collected over almost 150 years. Probably maybe a little more under the stretcher. The dust deposits have been removed. The painting has been dusted off. And I'm starting the next stage, repairing the tears by gluing them. There were several tears on the painting. I'm showing one here and then the second one. I need to bond the canvas threads, then press them well so everything sticks together. I use a special restoration glue just for the canvas to reconnect all the threads. After the glue has set, I use a spatula to press down all the loose threads. After that, I stretch the painting onto a work frame using paper strips. I want to show the next stage. This is the process of consolidating the primer and paint layer to restore elasticity to the painting and make it flatter so it isn't brittle. For this, glue and special restoration paper are used. Basically, the paper works by pressing down all the loose parts as it dries and they settle Settle back into place. I'm taping it down with a second piece of paper, working very carefully and gently. I smooth it out with a roller, removing any bubbles. The painting has now dried and has been kept under a weight. After the paint layer has dried under the paper, we can proceed to clean the back of the painting. You can see just how dirty and dusty the back of the painting has become over all this time. I assume it was stored where there was stove heating, heating, and all this dust and soot settled over time both on the front and on the back, and you can see just how dirty the swab is. Here is how the painting looks for me now. The back is gradually being cleaned. It is clearly visible here. On the right side is the cleaned part and on the left it is still covered with dirt. And it's easy to see that where the stretcher frame was, it is lighter and cleaner. While the darker canvas is the part that was exposed and, so to speak, oxidized more. I am working gradually with consistent drying. Right now I'm showing it under 200x magnification. Before the restoration, a fragment of the back of the canvas, and here, and here it is already clean. This is how the clean canvas looks. It looks like this. I am checking that the threads are clearly visible and not frayed after cleaning. Here is the fully cleaned back of the painting. Proceeding to the next stage which is the removal of the restoration paper from the surface of the paint layer. Once the back is cleaned, I start on the front side of the painting. I need to work very carefully and without rushing. The paint layer has strengthened quite well. In this case, re-strengthening was not required. And sometimes it even happens that you have to strengthen the same area three or four times, but in this case the ground was not that thick. It is factory made. The paint layer is quite thin, so one time was enough to bond and glue down all these flakes. The glue penetrates the crack, stays there, and bonds all these lifting areas. Hmm. That is the principle. And the papers apply temporarily. After The work has been under the facing for a while. It can be removed. Here is the painting already cleaned of paper. After the painting has dried, I proceed to the next stage of restoration. This is applying restoration gesso to the areas of loss and tears. The gesso on the painting has been washed, cleaned and leveled. I am proceeding to remove the old yellowed varnish. Beforehand, I want to say that tests, micro tests, were made on different non-critical areas of the painting and a specific solvent was selected for this painting. I say this in every video and will continue to say it because it is very important. Restorers do not have a single universal formula. The composition is always selected individually because there are many factors affecting this or Because it could be a soft resin varnish or it could be a hard resin varnish. Are there any contaminants? There are no contaminants. There is a restoration present in the form over painting. This is a later intervention. That is, is it lying on top of the paint or is it under the paint with varnish on top? This must also be considered because when a painting has been varnished several times, coated with varnish, you need to understand that different varnishes react differently. Finally, Rewa. And one varnish may be removed one way, while the underlying varnish may be removed another way. And all these points must be taken into account. It is very important. Without knowledge of chemistry, it's hard to be a good restorer. And not just chemistry, but also art history, painting, and many other disciplines. The profession of a restorer combines many professions into one. Each time I learn something new from the work, I am gradually removing this old coating, darkened and uneven. which interferes with the perception of the artist's work, and a cooler, brighter, and more vivid painting is revealed. The brownish yellow color that hindered the perception of the original painting is fading away. I want to say that this process is always lengthy. I show this in one video, but in reality, to film one such long video takes me a great deal of time. It almost always takes months. Months of laborious, painstaking work. It cannot be done in a short period and what looks simple and easy is actually many hours of work on the painting and restoration usually takes more time than it took the artist to paint the work in the first place. It is always very meticulous work. It is always very nerve-wracking to remove varnish. The restorer works directly with the paint layer at close range change and The process must be constantly monitored because the varnish may react one way in one area and differently in another. Therefore, sometimes it is necessary to use different weaker or stronger compounds while removing this old varnish. Because sometimes people ask me in the comments why you can't just take a big piece of cotton or a sponge, soak it, and just wipe off this old varnish. But you have to monitor every single area Yes, when working with varnish, you need to be 200% focused. A portrait, for example, the face hands the signature. And you need to move very carefully so that your touch is light and weightless. Here you can already see how the skin tone is emerging and how porcelain-like it is from under the old yellowed varnish. The color of the varnish has darkened. You can see it on my cotton swab. Bob. Huh? What a pleasant coloring is being revealed. The color and details of the painting, which were, one might say, hidden and invisible under this old varnish. The painting is so delicate and all these nuances are emerging that were not noticeable, obscured, so to speak, by the filter of the old varnish. You can see the true color of the eyes, that it isn't the warm shade it originally appeared to be. When you go to a museum and see many dark paintings, the viewer gets the impression, anyone looking at these works, that in earlier times they painted with dark colors. But that is not, is not the case. The painting was originally vivid, but over time these cloudy and whitish spots appeared, the varnish darkened and turned brown, so now we see a distorted image. And I want to show you the most interesting part. During the cleaning or removal of this old yellowed varnish, the artist's signature was revealed. It is very exciting. And to return the authorship to the painting after so much time, it's good that the painting is being restored and the artist's name will return and not just the name. And below that, a date will be revealed for me. Below the signature is the date of the artist Afanasy Sidov. It will be the surname. It was written with a yat. I didn't understand it right away. I consulted with specialists. They suggested that this is how they used to write, with a yatna, meaning it is said of, with a heart sign at the end. Below that is 1883, so there will be not only the signature, but also the date on the work. This is very valuable. I think the client will be very pleased to have such a piece returned with the author's signature and date. Unfortunately, we will not find out who this girl depicted is. I looked a little on the internet and didn't find much information about him, only that this artist, Afanasy Sidov, studied at the Academy of Arts. I, Grigory Ossekian, he graduated exactly in 1880, and that means he had already graduated from the Repin Academy three years prior. He also painted portraits on commission and worked as an artist. And here's the painting. After removing the old varnish, it has become so cool toned. The solvent has evaporated from the painting. I am proceeding to the next stage of work, adding new restoration edges. The original canvas is in fairly good condition. The painting does not need to be relined, which is good. Here it is only possible to It is possible to realign the edges to extend them so that it would be convenient for me to stretch it. I also want to say that tracing paper was made to pre-draw the dimensions of the edge. Rectangular and square paintings are easier to measure with a ruler. That won't work here. Here you need to fuss a little with the edges, correctly calculate the size, the overlap onto the original edge, and take the geometry of the original work into account. And right here, I am showing that I have aligned the pencil drawing on the edge and the stretcher so as Not to shift the painting. Because if it shifts even a little, the oval won't fit the stretcher size and the painting will start to go beyond the frame. It is important to observe these millimeters. It is easier to stretch a rectangular painting than an oval or round one. You must have a sufficient experience in this to know these subtleties. It is also stretched gradually with one nail driven in on each side so that the tension ...is uniform so that the painting is not tighter on one side and looser on the other. You need to stretch it equally from each side. Well, here I recorded a time-lapse, a sped-up video. I am showing how I work and stretch it. I believe it is better to stretch a painting with nails rather than staples because staples hold less securely than nails. I am already showing the reverse side. The edges are already folded here. I am finishing the reverse side of the stretcher and the edges. Because the stretcher is oval, I have to make folds in the lining edge, as it is impossible to lay the edge down differently on this shape. And this is how the reverse looks after my stretching. The keys, or wedges as they are also called, are tied in place. Now all that remains for me is to perform the retouching and cover the painting with a new protective layer of varnish. Retouching is done strictly within the areas of loss using the pointillist technique. As you can see the color is built up gradually. I want to say that retouching is not done all at once. As you can see the paint has gradually dried. You have to wait then do it again. Finding the right color and density of paint takes quite a lot of time. General rules are established in both the Russian and European schools of restoration to use materials that are as reversible as possible. That is why I use watercolor, so that in the future it will be easy for the next restorer to reverse it. We think about the future, about the next restorer who will live after us and... do this work 100 200 or 300 years from now so that they can easily revert and redo everything therefore as senior restorers say we pass the work from one restorer to another so step by step I am restoring the integrity of the work so that the painting looks cohesive and nothing stands out from the overall color scheme after the retouching has dried on the painting I show the final stage of my work. This is coating the painting with a new protective layer of varnish. You can see how much brighter the painting becomes. It is so pleasant to observe these moments when it is partially covered with varnish and partially not yet. You know, this contrast is very noticeable. The painting looks so vivid under the varnish. I level out the varnish so there are no drips or pools and the coverage is uniform. After the varnish has dried well, a decision was made to replace the mounting hardware. There were old nails in the frame. I discussed this with a client and I was given permission to replace the hardware with new, more modern ones. No old rusty nails, just new fasteners. The hardware is made of metal that does not rust or oxidize so the painting will not be damaged in the future. That is the beautiful reverse side of the painting that resulted. This is important. Missing keys were also made which had been lost and tied off during the object's history. This is how the painting looks after restoration. The work has become cooler in tone, the skin color has normalized, the portrait is reinforced, the old varnish has been removed, and it seems to me that we have succeeded in restoring the dialogue between the artist and the viewer, which was interrupted for a hundred years. The authorship of this artist has been restored. I believe this is a great success. The owner will be happy to find out. The work is not by an unknown artist, but attributed, Showing the portrait before restoration and after. What do you think of the results of the work?