In 2009, a severe flood found its way into the basement archives of the Holland Museum. Clothing, silverware, dolls, furniture, paintings: over a thousand objects were damaged. A reclamation project of this scope required many people with various work experience, ranging from volunteers to professionals, and a lot of time, two years.
Some of the paintings, predominantly a collection of Dutch Painters, looked like they had sustained irreparable damage; there were large cracks, and severe cupping, and actual loses of paint; but, in fact, they were not too damaged to save.
C.C. Dommershuizen (1842 – 1928) painted this oil on canvas, Departing Fishing Vessels. The flood damage had caused a ghastly ridge to form down the middle. With the proper techniques, we were able to remove it. We think the restoration turned out truly amazing. This will be the first in a series of flood paintings that we’ve done for the Holland Museum. More to follow. . .