S p e c i a l  P r o j e c t s

This landscape had been patched with heavy canvas and epoxy which created stresses on the fine linen of the original support. That, and the subsequent repairs, had turned a once beautiful painting into a mess. We reversed all of that and returned the painting to its original splendor.

Occasionally a project comes along that is perplexing in its condition and challenging in its resolution. These situations require Investigations that go far beyond the scope of the average treatment.


Here are four such examples. Click on each photo to view the processes and results. The outcome in all instances was well worth the undertaking.




A dark and foreboding landscape appeared at first glance to be darkened by an aged, discolored varnish layer. The problem was much more complex and left the pathway to its completion uncertain.

Painted in 1913, this painting hung in a house by the sea exposed to nearly a century of strong sun, salt air, humidity in the summer, and frigid temperatures in the winter. When it came to me it was crumbling.

Unlike the previous example where problems with faulty artist’s materials were enhanced by extreme environmental factors, dormant chemical reactions in the molecular structure of the paint itself were activated by the environment and account for the problems in the surface appearance of this 1835 portrait. Chemical changes are still taking place deep within the paint structure even after almost 200 years.