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Recent Posts
- When the News Says “AI Restored a Painting” June 4, 2026
- Historic Mission Inn Sold — What Will Happen to Its Art Collection?! June 1, 2026
- Heirloom Oil Painting Restoration Salt Lake County Utah May 29, 2026
- Art Restoration Los Angeles County: Paintings, Heirlooms May 20, 2026
- When the Oil Painting Arrives Damaged: What Shipping and Storage Problems Can Do to Artwork May 14, 2026
- Why for the 1st time I Threw Someone Out of My Art Restoration Lab – DIY Oil Painting Cleaning Destroyed a $35,000 Artwork April 3, 2026
- Art Preservation Restoration of Conrad Buff Estate Oil Paintings, Laguna Art Museum, Orange Country, CA March 30, 2026
- Art and Family Heirloom Restoration One Year After the Palisades and Eaton Fires: What We’re Still Saving January 9, 2026
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Category Archives: In Lab
Badly Ripped Gorgeous Oil Painting by Colin Campbell Cooper Repaired
The people that did this had to not know that this painting in good condition was worth at least $75,000! I mean, who treat beautiful art like this? Well… maybe I should answer my own question as I HAVE GOT … Continue reading
Art Damaged Over and Over…
by Laura Kadi, Art Conservation Intern When we think of accidents, we think of random, sudden events that occur at unexpected moments in our lives. Kids run around and carelessly knock into an expensive painting. A water pipe breaks, damaging … Continue reading
Preserving California History: Art Restoration of Historic Paintings of the Missions of CA
If you are close to Santa Barbara this Thurs evening (May 22) a truly unique and special evening is planned at the very exclusive Santa Barbara Mission Archives and Library that will highlight important historical art of the Missions of … Continue reading
Rip in Painting Results in $350K loss in Value A Painful and Expensive Collector Care Lesson
By Adrian DiUberto, Painting Conservation Intern Vintage oil paintings have always been collected financial assets. But value, and therefore the importance, is not only determined by how much it sells for. Many works of art worth little money contain our … Continue reading
Maynard Dixon Painting Restoration, Art Conservation
Recently, a wonderful cowboy painting by Maynard Dixon was rediscovered after being hid away from the public for the last 110 years. It was found by super sluth art dealer Steven Stern Fine Arts. Here is a quick 2min. video … Continue reading
William Sargent Kendall’s “The Artist’s Wife and Daughters” in the lab for Art Conservation Treatments
by Oriana Montemurro, Art Conservator In Stones of Venice John Ruskin wrote, “what we want art to do for us is to stay what is fleeting. Immortalize the things that have no duration.” In large part, that is … Continue reading
Posted in In Lab
Tagged Cleaning, lining, Springville Museum of Art, William Sargent Kendall
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Cleaning a Painting – A discovery process and the “unknown factor”
Updated April 24, 2026 Its a discovery process, even for very experienced art conservators When I got this Victorian 1880’s oil painting from a friend/client (no records on the artist, negligible market value which might prompt some people to ask … Continue reading
Ripped Painting’s Damage Evaluation and Repair Proposal -Good info for art collectors and fine art insurance adjusters-
You will find it interesting… and USEFUL… to read over an evaluation I wrote for a claim on a damaged painting. Some details and names have been eliminated of course. The other day, I inspected a painting to evaluate the … Continue reading
“Restored” Painting of Christ in Spain – “Behold, the Monkey!”
Isn’t there a movie or skit of Mr. Bean cleaning and then retouching a painting?! I never thought we’d see the real deal. Last week as this story leaked out onto the international news networks, I began having people mention … Continue reading
