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PALIMPSEST

EASEL PAINTINGS / PANEL / POLYCHROME SCULPTURE

Everything here arrived in worse condition

A studio of six conservators working for museums, churches and private collections. We do not restore paintings to how we imagine they looked. We stabilise what survives, remove what was added later, and document every decision so the next conservator can undo ours.

Drag it and take the varnish off

Left of the handle is the panel as it came to us: varnish oxidised to brown, an overpaint applied in the 1890s, craquelure through the whole surface and a loss where the gesso lifted from the board. Right of it is the same panel after treatment, with the fill retouched in visible hatching so nobody mistakes our hand for the artist's.

BeforeAfter

Illustrative diagram. Condition reports are issued in full, with raking light and ultraviolet plates.

Recent treatments

005 entries
  1. PL.2026.014

    Virgin and Child with Donor

    Tempera on poplar panel

    Varnish removal, cradle release, consolidation

    2026
  2. PL.2025.221

    Portrait of a Merchant

    Oil on oak panel

    Overpaint removal and retouching

    2025
  3. PL.2025.108

    Altarpiece, right wing

    Oil and gold on panel

    Structural join repair, regilding of losses

    2025
  4. PL.2024.077

    Landscape with Cattle

    Oil on canvas

    Lining, tear repair, revarnishing

    2024
  5. PL.2024.031

    Polychrome Saint

    Carved limewood, polychrome

    Consolidation of flaking polychromy

    2024

Disciplines

01
Examination and reporting
Raking light, ultraviolet, infrared reflectography and cross-section analysis, issued as a written condition report before any treatment is proposed.
02
Structural treatment
Panel splits and joins, cradle release, canvas tears, lining and strip-lining, carried out only where the object's stability requires it.
03
Surface treatment
Varnish removal, overpaint removal, consolidation of flaking paint, and retouching in reversible materials that a future conservator can lift.
04
Preventive conservation
Environmental survey, glazing and framing advice, and handling and transport specifications for loans and installations.

Send us photographs and the object's history.

Studio
Via delle Belle Donne 14, Firenze
Discipline
Paintings conservation, est. 1988
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