Conserving paintings

Oil, tempera, fresco, enamel... materials and techniques have changed over time, and conservators need a vast amount of knowledge to preserve paintings.

Conserving Cuzco School Paintings
Conserving Cuzco School Paintings

Follow the conservation treatment and research of “Emblem of Folly,” a painting from colonial Cuzco. Committed study of these works can help create a better understanding of Latinx cultural identity and history.

Conservation: portrait miniatures
Conservation: portrait miniatures

Find out how the V&A investigates and analyzes the miniatures in order to understand more about what they were made of, when they were made, and how to conserve them.

Remaking a fourteenth-century triptych
Remaking a fourteenth-century triptych

Learn how early Renaissance artists made panel paintings from scratch.

Conserving a portrait of King Edward VI
Conserving a portrait of King Edward VI

This portrait was in good condition. Thanks to the removal of varnish and overpainting, it’s now cleaner than ever.

Painting Conservation of the Virgin of Guadalupe
Painting Conservation of the Virgin of Guadalupe

A three-hundred year old painting required a lot of attention before it was ready for visitors to experience in the gallery.

Conservation of paintings
Conservation of paintings

A restorer’s job is to make sense of a painting’s physical history and to stabilize its changeable materials.

Restoring Rothko
Restoring Rothko

What happens when a painting is vandalized? See how conservators at Tate leapt into action to save a painting.

The Science of Van Gogh’s Bedrooms
The Science of Van Gogh’s Bedrooms

The three versions of this bedroom scene may look similar, but technical analysis reveals differences between them.

Van Gogh’s <em>Enclosed Field with Ploughman</em> under raking light
Van Gogh’s Enclosed Field with Ploughman under raking light

Raking light reveals bulges and creases in a canvas, as well as the dynamism of van Gogh’s brushstrokes.

Conservation of Vincent van Gogh’s <em>Field with Irises near Arles</em>
Conservation of Vincent van Gogh’s Field with Irises near Arles

Watch as a conservator removes decades-old varnish from a van Gogh landscape. Look at those stunning colors!

Michael Gallagher on <em>Everhard Jabach and His Family</em>
Michael Gallagher on Everhard Jabach and His Family

This painting took months of cleaning and structural work to revive—and posed several conservation challenges.

Conserving <em>Flowers in a Glass Vase</em>
Conserving Flowers in a Glass Vase

Treating this still life involved reattaching paint, removing and reapplying varnish, and then retouching losses.