In the end it was found that the odd patch depicted in the previous entry was indeed paper infused with glue and stuck firmly to the front of the painting. Its removal required careful application of solvent and mechanical manipulation to lift away the paper bit by bit. I have never encountered anything of this sort before and it still amazes me that anyone would do such a thing. Fortunately the damage beneath the patch was relatively minimal and certainly the painting’a appearance is much improved without it.

G R E A T W O R K S   P A I N T I N G   R E S T O R A T I O N