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People Won’t Stop Demanding The Mona Lisa To Be Cleaned, So Someone Just Explained What Would Happen
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People Won’t Stop Demanding The Mona Lisa To Be Cleaned, So Someone Just Explained What Would Happen

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From rust being washed off some old pots to dirt removed from crevices between tiles, watching something return to its previous state is oddly satisfying and art pieces are no exception to that principle.

Not too long ago we shared a video of art expert Philip Mould removing the old varnish off a 400-year-old painting, which since then has gone viral. The fascinating process of painting restoration garnered attention on Tumblr where people were quick to demand the same thing to be done to Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous ‘Mona Lisa.’ A tempting idea, especially after seeing how beautiful the ‘Woman In Red’ looked after Mould’s treatment. In fact, some restoration work was done in 1809 on the original Mona Lisa, and that’s why it looks so ‘washed out’ as some layers of paint were removed during the process.

A Tumblr user named Eleanor quickly explained what would happen if someone tried to restore the famous painting to its original state. From introducing us to Leonardo’s painting techniques to the whole process of oil painting conservation, Eleanor explained why the restoration wouldn’t be worth the risk.

More info: Tumblr

Not too long ago the internet was fascinated by Philip Mould’s restoration of 400-year-old ‘Woman In Red’

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He used a mixture of gel and solvent, created specifically for this art piece, to remove the yellow varnish

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“A mixture of gel and solvent was created, specifically just to remove the varnish and not to damage the underlying paint”

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“It’s different from normal restoration, with the gel suspending the solvent and working more controllably”

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After seeing Mould’s work, people of Tumblr quickly demanded this be done to Da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa,’ however, a user named Eleanor was quick to explain what would happen if someone did that

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johannazamora avatar
Johanna Zamora
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for not succumbing to ignorance and letting people open their minds to the complexities of glaze painting. It's magical when done right.

krestel avatar
Jill
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I saw this I couldn’t help but think about the ”restoration” of Ecce Homo. In case you forgot: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/botched-restoration-of-jesus-fresco-miraculously-saves-spanish-town-197057 FA08B4B6-B...9-jpeg.jpg FA08B4B6-BABC-44B7-908C-54F0FF1EEBFB-5ad031d3b0d09-jpeg.jpg

venogesmali avatar
HellCat
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for the post, I learned a lot of things from it, specially as an art lover. I am also fascinated by Leonardo da Vinci's life and genius and this post comes nicely close to 15th of April, his birthday. I highly doubt there has been or ever will be a character like he was. As for the paintings themselves, unless there is an actual reason behind it, such as protecting or saving it, I actually prefer them when they have the varnish. Shows their age and in my opinion, increases their value and aesthetics.

crahnamai avatar
PeachPossum
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I seem to recall from my art history class that Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to make restorations on the Last Supper. He had chosen to use his own invention of egg tempura on the stone wall after preparing the surface. It is not a fresco, which is wet plaster and painted in sections. A couple of years later, the tempura had started to flake off, and da Vinci returned to make repairs.

marycrisan avatar
Mary Crisan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Check this please : https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/v/leonardo-da-vinci-last-supper-1495-98 just saying....

Load More Replies...
haymanfadhel avatar
HAYMAN FADHEL
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bruh he looks like he has a superhero mask... HAS#TAG FunnyInCanada Image result for the restoration of paintings

haymanfadhel avatar
HAYMAN FADHEL
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why don't they just put the Mona Lisa through a Snapchat filter?? HAS#TAG ConfusedInCanada

mdmjunior avatar
Marcio Junior
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing and a incredible share of knowledge, thank you man, as a beginner artist, this was a huge learning for me.

kkathleen517 avatar
kkathleen517
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow, that was awesome to read,very interesting..I knew nothing about art. Now I do.

royalfangirl avatar
H4unt3dF0r3sts
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've always wondered why they hadn't conserved the Mona Lisa, and I was sad that they hadn't yet. At least I know why now!!

doniefearnain avatar
Donal Heffernan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a major difference between conservation and restoration and if you don't know that then you need to study a wee bit more before making uninformed comments.

Load More Replies...
obscure avatar
Obscure
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Correction. That painting being restored is 400 years old as it's saying in the text, the varnish must be 200 years old as it also states, since old paintings usually have been commissioned to be cleaned/restored/applied with new varnish at some point in their existence. Same with Mona Lisa, from what I read years ago it seems it has been restored at least 2 times, or quite possibly re-painted over far after his death by some other artists. At least that's how I remember it.

doniefearnain avatar
Donal Heffernan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do a little proof-reading if you don't want your audience to become distracted by careless mistakes. It's also proof of low standards.

david_97 avatar
David Ir-Restawratur
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Before doing any treatment, every artwork has to be thoroughly examined using scientific equipment. The Conservator needs to understand how the artist originally painted the artwork and which materials were used. It is also necessary to understand whether and how the artwork was altered and intervened upon in its past. All this analysis is necessary BEFORE conservation-restoration. It is not a matter of just making artworks look pretty, or a happy trial and error adventure. Even the slightest error will cause permanent damage! And its a huge responsibility as every artwork is unique and irreplaceable. This explains why artworks have to be treated ONLY by ethical and qualified professionals. As explained in this article, the removal of varnish should not be automatically considered for all artworks. Hundreds of 19th century paintings, for instance, have been purposely coated by a yellowed varnish by their respective artist to look like antiques!

pauldixon1986 avatar
Paul Dixon
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So I wrote a comment a few days ago. I’ve had many notifications saying people have replied - 8 in total. Yet when I click on the link I can’t find the comment to read what people have said :-(

cecilia_aros avatar
Cecilia Aros
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

so informative, even though I suspected as much it is a shame that they can't do much about those paintings, maybe in the future with more advanced restoration technology.

katie-trondsen avatar
KT Trondsen
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really enjoyed reading all this, very interesting. Thank you for taking the time to share :)

abirex avatar
Abby Rexroth
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was lucky enough to see the last supper when I was 12 in 1980; at that time it was not protected and I vaguely remember seeing scaffolding around it.

amaliafa1995 avatar
Kagamilia
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder how others gonna reply after getting full speech like that, lol. Either way it shows us to learn more deeply about something we want before we ask for it. Or at least for me.

xeofirexeochange avatar
XEOFIRE XEOCHANGE
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unfortunately, too much detail was removed. Leave all alone. At least it was not painted over like most Restorations done by "artists."

blackberrybunny avatar
Molly Block
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

On the Last Supper real painting, what is that part on the middle bottom? Where it looks like the tablecloth is flipped up a little? What is that blank spot under that??

nadineducca avatar
Nadine Ducca
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's like a painted doorway, as if a real doorway had to occupy that part. The Last Supper is painted on a wall inside the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan. Do a google image search and you'll see several pictures of the inside.

Load More Replies...
ttest avatar
Karel T
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't want to be nasty, but there is absolutely nothing fascinating about removing old varnish. ANYONE CAN DO IT. It looks cool on the video until you realize several things. Some painters might have adjusted the colors while painting so that the yellowish aspect of their varnish applied later creates exactly the colors they actually want. Removing the varnish completely now gives hardly the original look (LOL). There is a reason why there;s the so-called "yellow of the old masters". You may want to remove the top most layer of the varnish which includes dirt, but you do it slowly, taking measurements, because the varnish may not be the same thickness over the whole painting. You can never be sure you are removing ONLY the varnish. NEVER! And because you can never be sure what will happen next, you never work in such bold strokes like mr. Mould does on the video. The way he does it actually looks both laughable and frightening. There is no way any museum would allow for that.

ttest avatar
Karel T
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(cont.) I am certain that the process mr. Mould used on that unlucky painting will never be used on Mona Lisa, because Mona Lisa resides in Louvre and people there know their stuff ;-)

Load More Replies...
pennypacker3000 avatar
David Jeu
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok, first of all the "restoration" depicted of "the woman in red" was the work of a butcher. That is absolutely not jpw you are supposed to work on a precious painting. Your start rubbing it with a cotton swab lighly damp with water. If that doesn't work, you go to water and soap, if that doesnt work, you had a but of alcohol and so on. I never saw a restorator working this fast and with acetone. Its madness! 2 your restore a paint only if it add something to it. Mona lisa is well known like it is, and a strong restoration might make it too clean to ne recognizable after it. There is a documentary about another painting of da vinci that was restored ( the Virgin with the child and st anna) and you can see how long and precise the process was. They had a pool of 10 expert scrutinizing every brush stroke of the restorator. It took years to restore. They finally decide to restore it only slightly, ti keep the patina (aging) of the painting.

pennypacker3000 avatar
David Jeu
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Typically there is 2 type if restoration techniques; the " like new" and the "keep it look old" and the second one us incredibly more complicated.

Load More Replies...
mariakhan avatar
Maria K
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

I'm too lazy to read the whole thing.. XD

allysia_ddez avatar
Allysia Gabehart
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Grad program and using apostrophes to make plurals? How.....? 🙄

bobbinewell avatar
Bobbi Newell
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Eleanor didn't have time to proofread; she had to educate the ENTIRE INTERNET!

Load More Replies...
johannazamora avatar
Johanna Zamora
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for not succumbing to ignorance and letting people open their minds to the complexities of glaze painting. It's magical when done right.

krestel avatar
Jill
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

When I saw this I couldn’t help but think about the ”restoration” of Ecce Homo. In case you forgot: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/botched-restoration-of-jesus-fresco-miraculously-saves-spanish-town-197057 FA08B4B6-B...9-jpeg.jpg FA08B4B6-BABC-44B7-908C-54F0FF1EEBFB-5ad031d3b0d09-jpeg.jpg

venogesmali avatar
HellCat
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for the post, I learned a lot of things from it, specially as an art lover. I am also fascinated by Leonardo da Vinci's life and genius and this post comes nicely close to 15th of April, his birthday. I highly doubt there has been or ever will be a character like he was. As for the paintings themselves, unless there is an actual reason behind it, such as protecting or saving it, I actually prefer them when they have the varnish. Shows their age and in my opinion, increases their value and aesthetics.

crahnamai avatar
PeachPossum
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I seem to recall from my art history class that Leonardo da Vinci was the first person to make restorations on the Last Supper. He had chosen to use his own invention of egg tempura on the stone wall after preparing the surface. It is not a fresco, which is wet plaster and painted in sections. A couple of years later, the tempura had started to flake off, and da Vinci returned to make repairs.

marycrisan avatar
Mary Crisan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Check this please : https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/renaissance-art-europe-ap/v/leonardo-da-vinci-last-supper-1495-98 just saying....

Load More Replies...
haymanfadhel avatar
HAYMAN FADHEL
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bruh he looks like he has a superhero mask... HAS#TAG FunnyInCanada Image result for the restoration of paintings

haymanfadhel avatar
HAYMAN FADHEL
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why don't they just put the Mona Lisa through a Snapchat filter?? HAS#TAG ConfusedInCanada

mdmjunior avatar
Marcio Junior
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Amazing and a incredible share of knowledge, thank you man, as a beginner artist, this was a huge learning for me.

kkathleen517 avatar
kkathleen517
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wow, that was awesome to read,very interesting..I knew nothing about art. Now I do.

royalfangirl avatar
H4unt3dF0r3sts
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've always wondered why they hadn't conserved the Mona Lisa, and I was sad that they hadn't yet. At least I know why now!!

doniefearnain avatar
Donal Heffernan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a major difference between conservation and restoration and if you don't know that then you need to study a wee bit more before making uninformed comments.

Load More Replies...
obscure avatar
Obscure
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Correction. That painting being restored is 400 years old as it's saying in the text, the varnish must be 200 years old as it also states, since old paintings usually have been commissioned to be cleaned/restored/applied with new varnish at some point in their existence. Same with Mona Lisa, from what I read years ago it seems it has been restored at least 2 times, or quite possibly re-painted over far after his death by some other artists. At least that's how I remember it.

doniefearnain avatar
Donal Heffernan
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Do a little proof-reading if you don't want your audience to become distracted by careless mistakes. It's also proof of low standards.

david_97 avatar
David Ir-Restawratur
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Before doing any treatment, every artwork has to be thoroughly examined using scientific equipment. The Conservator needs to understand how the artist originally painted the artwork and which materials were used. It is also necessary to understand whether and how the artwork was altered and intervened upon in its past. All this analysis is necessary BEFORE conservation-restoration. It is not a matter of just making artworks look pretty, or a happy trial and error adventure. Even the slightest error will cause permanent damage! And its a huge responsibility as every artwork is unique and irreplaceable. This explains why artworks have to be treated ONLY by ethical and qualified professionals. As explained in this article, the removal of varnish should not be automatically considered for all artworks. Hundreds of 19th century paintings, for instance, have been purposely coated by a yellowed varnish by their respective artist to look like antiques!

pauldixon1986 avatar
Paul Dixon
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So I wrote a comment a few days ago. I’ve had many notifications saying people have replied - 8 in total. Yet when I click on the link I can’t find the comment to read what people have said :-(

cecilia_aros avatar
Cecilia Aros
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

so informative, even though I suspected as much it is a shame that they can't do much about those paintings, maybe in the future with more advanced restoration technology.

katie-trondsen avatar
KT Trondsen
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I really enjoyed reading all this, very interesting. Thank you for taking the time to share :)

abirex avatar
Abby Rexroth
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was lucky enough to see the last supper when I was 12 in 1980; at that time it was not protected and I vaguely remember seeing scaffolding around it.

amaliafa1995 avatar
Kagamilia
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wonder how others gonna reply after getting full speech like that, lol. Either way it shows us to learn more deeply about something we want before we ask for it. Or at least for me.

xeofirexeochange avatar
XEOFIRE XEOCHANGE
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unfortunately, too much detail was removed. Leave all alone. At least it was not painted over like most Restorations done by "artists."

blackberrybunny avatar
Molly Block
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

On the Last Supper real painting, what is that part on the middle bottom? Where it looks like the tablecloth is flipped up a little? What is that blank spot under that??

nadineducca avatar
Nadine Ducca
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's like a painted doorway, as if a real doorway had to occupy that part. The Last Supper is painted on a wall inside the Santa Maria delle Grazie church in Milan. Do a google image search and you'll see several pictures of the inside.

Load More Replies...
ttest avatar
Karel T
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't want to be nasty, but there is absolutely nothing fascinating about removing old varnish. ANYONE CAN DO IT. It looks cool on the video until you realize several things. Some painters might have adjusted the colors while painting so that the yellowish aspect of their varnish applied later creates exactly the colors they actually want. Removing the varnish completely now gives hardly the original look (LOL). There is a reason why there;s the so-called "yellow of the old masters". You may want to remove the top most layer of the varnish which includes dirt, but you do it slowly, taking measurements, because the varnish may not be the same thickness over the whole painting. You can never be sure you are removing ONLY the varnish. NEVER! And because you can never be sure what will happen next, you never work in such bold strokes like mr. Mould does on the video. The way he does it actually looks both laughable and frightening. There is no way any museum would allow for that.

ttest avatar
Karel T
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(cont.) I am certain that the process mr. Mould used on that unlucky painting will never be used on Mona Lisa, because Mona Lisa resides in Louvre and people there know their stuff ;-)

Load More Replies...
pennypacker3000 avatar
David Jeu
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok, first of all the "restoration" depicted of "the woman in red" was the work of a butcher. That is absolutely not jpw you are supposed to work on a precious painting. Your start rubbing it with a cotton swab lighly damp with water. If that doesn't work, you go to water and soap, if that doesnt work, you had a but of alcohol and so on. I never saw a restorator working this fast and with acetone. Its madness! 2 your restore a paint only if it add something to it. Mona lisa is well known like it is, and a strong restoration might make it too clean to ne recognizable after it. There is a documentary about another painting of da vinci that was restored ( the Virgin with the child and st anna) and you can see how long and precise the process was. They had a pool of 10 expert scrutinizing every brush stroke of the restorator. It took years to restore. They finally decide to restore it only slightly, ti keep the patina (aging) of the painting.

pennypacker3000 avatar
David Jeu
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Typically there is 2 type if restoration techniques; the " like new" and the "keep it look old" and the second one us incredibly more complicated.

Load More Replies...
mariakhan avatar
Maria K
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

I'm too lazy to read the whole thing.. XD

allysia_ddez avatar
Allysia Gabehart
Community Member
5 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

Grad program and using apostrophes to make plurals? How.....? 🙄

bobbinewell avatar
Bobbi Newell
Community Member
5 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Eleanor didn't have time to proofread; she had to educate the ENTIRE INTERNET!

Load More Replies...
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