Cleaning Oil Paintings
The successful cleaning and restoration of an oil painting requires a particular set of skills and experience. We pride ourselves in the expertise, developed over many years, which we bring to this task. An oil painting can easily be irrevocably damaged by the misuse of inappropriate solvents and/or domestic cleaning agents. We are therefore proud of our history of providing the highest level of expertise in the cleaning of all oil paintings.
With more than forty years of experience in cleaning oil paintings, we have cleaned and restored paintings on canvas, wood panels and even synthetic surfaces. We have also completed commissions restoring murals in large houses and public buildings as well as cleaning very large and valuable paintings in situ when the owners of the picture do not wish the painting to be removed to our studio. The condition of a painting is critical in the decisions that have to be made before commencing any work.
Over a period of time a picture may have been badly repaired or restored and some pictures which we receive have been overpainted in order to cover up or change the image. We use a wide variety of photographic techniques to determine the original image of a picture before providing a detailed written assessment of the work we believe will be entailed in a high-quality restoration.
Whilst approximate costs can be estimated from examining a photograph, no exact costing can be given until a picture has been examined in situ or in our restoration studios. Photographs are taken at every stage of the cleaning process of every picture which we are entrusted to restore. These photographs are available when the restoration is complete as a record of the restoration.
"Every painting tells a story. The best restoration reveals the content of that story from beginning to end."
Printed records of the past and restoration
A particular feature of our Restoration of Paintings is the photographic record we make from the beginning of the restoration process. Every picture that enters our restoration studio receives one of these books to record the processes we've taken to restore a painting back to its former glory.