We Had No Idea They Did THIS to Old Paintings to Fix Them

If you’ve ever wondered what is involved in restoring an old or damaged painting then you’ve got to see how the professionals do it. This fine art restoration on a painting of the Virgin Mary from 150 years ago is a mesmerizing process undertaken by Baumgartner Restoration in Chicago. The techniques used are painstaking measures to keep the paint stable in future and to repair holes in the canvas. Have a look at how it’s done below.

Tools used in the process include giant cotton swabs (made by twisting cotton around a little wooden stick), masking tape, surgical blades, and weights to keep things flat while adhesive dries. This painting had a ripped canvas start to start with, so the painting is removed from its frame to begin the process.

The holes in the canvas are filled using adhesive and individual strands from a piece of canvas, placed on with tweezers. This process is almost like darning, except there’s no sewing involved.

Next the edges of the canvas are reinforced with new canvas and it’s attached to the frame again.

Wooden spacers, used to stretch to canvas over the frame, are secured with fishing line to nails at the corners to keep everything from moving later on.

The resulting gaps on the face of the painting are then carefully painted in colors to match the original paint.

Finally the painting gets a clear coat to seal in the repairs and new paint, as well as to stabilize the older paint.

When all is said and done the results of this detailed procedure are just stunning. The clarity of the painting is so much better after cleaning and fixing the flaking paint and torn canvas.

Watch the full process from start to finish in the intriguing video below. We can’t believe how much painstaking work goes into restoring a painting like this. What’s more, the company claims that all the changes are fully reversible, which is just astounding.