Thanks for sharing that. Very interesting to watch and it was fun trying to guess the materials he was using.

I know at least one conservator who likely would have cringed at some of their methods, particularly how they did not have gloves on whenever touching the painting, even on the back. Also the amount of flexing imparted to the canvas when turning it over and moving it about.

As for the idea of restoring old works – I am torn between simply stabilizing a damaged piece since the damage is part of its history and trying to restore it so it would be more like the day it was finished. I can see merit in both paths. If I owned it and didn’t ever plan to sell it, I would probably choose the stabilization option rather than full restoration. From what I understand a professional restored, valuable piece will almost always increase in value if it is done right. As long as it is all fully reversible, which should be the case for all professionally restored works, I suppose it doesn’t matter either way.