Extensive efforts to carefully surface clean the portrait, as well as the efforts to stabilize the tears are captured in the photographs below. This is a large painting, roughly 57″ x 87,″ and by removing the top layers of varnish, that had darkened, the paint surface has lightened in color and gained a greater degree of contrast. This helps make the brighter colors pop, and in the darker background areas, it adds more clarity, form, and structure. Stay tuned for more . . .