Art restoration

The work of repairing damage to artworks, bringing them back to their original condition. Unlike art conservation, this can admit the addition of elements which were not actually pieces of the original, but which are known to look just like them. Inpainting a portion of a painting that is damaged or missing, for instance.Example: Michelangelo (born Michelangiolo Buonarroti) (Italian, 1475-1564), Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, 1508-12, fresco, Vatican, Rome. This great work had been damaged by centuries of accumulated smoke, cracked and falling materials, and several previous restorations of dubious quality, when it was painstakingly conserved and restored in the 1990s. see thumbnail to rightEach of these photos shows the figure of the Prophet Jonah: before and after this restoration work was done. See the Renaissance.Related link: Ralph Dickerman Fine Arts Restoration describes what he does, and shows several examples of paintings, before and after they were restored. Mr. Dickerman also publishes an online dictionary of art restoration terms. His studio is in Houston, Texas.Also see art careers, fragment, lacuna, and preparator.