Can you guess

what’s wrong with

these paintings?
Speaker: Noah Charney.
 A little bit about this talk
This video talks about the importance of such a process as restoration. How the process works, why
it’s needed, and what happens to the paintings afterwards – the answers to these questions can be
found in the talk.

The video shows 3 paintings that have been damaged, some of which are almost impossible to see
with the naked eye.
 “Isabella de Medici” Bronzino
When a museum curators inspected this portrait, they
suspected it was a modern fake.

Using x-ray technology, they peered under the outer

surface of paint and saw the face of a completely
different woman. Essential parts of the painting had
been modified during a 19th century restoration.

To recover the original, the conservator began

removing the outer varnish coat.
The true painting underneath revealed Isabella of the
Italian Medici dynasty.

Original Painting Its Victorian makeover was likely done to boost sales
because the original subject wasn’t considered
painting restoration attractive.
 “Allegory with Venus and Cupid” Bronzino

It centers on a kiss between Venus and her son Cupid, but it’s been study altered.
When London’s National Gallery acquired it in 1860, the Gallery ‘s director
deemed it too risqué for Victorian England.

So, he commissioned a restorer to obscure Venus’s tongue and nipple.

A century after this modification, art conservators analyzed and removed the
overpainting with select solvents. In the process they also realized that the veil
covering Venus’s crotch and the branch hiding Cupid’s posterior were other
additions.
 “The Night Watch” Rembrandt
This painting endured one dramatic amputation, 2 stabbings, an acid attack and centuries
grime.
A museum guard immediately neutralized the acid with water. Restores lifted the
grime and healed the slashes using adhesive and extra canvas backing.

In 1715, strips were removed from all sides of the canvas, including 2 whole feet
from the left, to fit it inside Amsterdam’s Town Hall. They’ve been lost ever since.

The most impressive moment of the talk for me was the fact that in 2019
artificial intelligence allowed to replace the missing fragments. To do this, it was
trained to draw digitally in the style of a Rembrandt. Then, the program recreated
and printed the lost fragments pf the painting.
 “Ideas Worth Spreading”

I think people should know that through painstaking scientific analysis

and technical skill, conservators immortalize priceless artifacts. They
counteract sudden damage and creeping threats, and sometimes
perform near miracles.