This 357-year-old painting took 10 months to restore so it could be enjoyed again at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Charles Le Brun’s exquisite painting of Everhard Jabach and his family was painted in 1660. A skilled painter and art theorist, Le Brun was one of the most admired artists in France during the seventeenth century.
Through the centuries, Le Brun’s painting was covered in tinted varnish and suffered superficial scratches and structural damage which almost split the painting in half.
The video shows us how this giant piece of art was restored step by step. The complicated restoration work started by removing the varnish, redoing the structural work, and finally re-stretching the canvas onto the frame.
After the painting had been re-stretched, the team lead by Michael Gallagher had to varnish the painting again.
Watch the video to see the marvelous process of bringing this giant artwork back to life.
