Fine-art conservation · est. 1974 · by appointment
We are a conservation studio for old-master and modern paintings. Under our lamps, a darkened canvas gives back the colour it was painted in — patiently, reversibly, and never beyond the damage.
A painting is not repainted. It is uncovered — and then we get out of its way.
Recent treatments
Each plate is one canvas, split down the middle — varnished on the left as it reached us, cleaned on the right. Nothing has been added that the painter did not put there.
LM-0417
Circle of the Haarlem school
Oil on oak panel · c. 1631 · 71 × 58 cm
Condition III — yellowed mastic varnish, surface bloom
Six layers of degraded varnish had sunk the flesh tones to amber. Removed under solvent gel; the cool greys of the collar returned untouched beneath.
LM-0392
Attributed to a Northern marine painter
Oil on canvas · 1758 · 96 × 134 cm
Condition II — nicotine film, grime, two old fills
A century above a hearth had greyed the whole sky. Cleaning recovered the dawn — and the painter's blues, which the varnish had been hiding most of all.
LM-0451
Tuscan, master unknown
Tempera & gold on poplar · c. 1480 · 44 × 31 cm
Condition IV — overpaint, gesso losses, lifting
Crude 19th-century overpaint covered the angel's wing. Reduced under magnification; the original gilding was consolidated and the losses inpainted, reversibly.
The method
Every treatment follows the same conservation ethic: document first, intervene least, and leave nothing the next hand cannot undo.
01
Raking light, UV fluorescence, infrared reflectography and X-radiography map every layer before a swab is lifted.
02
Discoloured varnish and grime are reduced with the gentlest effective solvent, tested in millimetre windows first.
03
Flaking paint and lifting gesso are re-adhered and the support stabilised before any cosmetic work begins.
04
Losses are filled and inpainted in reversible conservation media — never over original paint, never beyond the damage.
05
A fresh, removable varnish saturates the colour and protects the surface, leaving the next conservator a clean start.
The studio
A work is examined, treated and documented by a single conservator, from the first swab to the final varnish. We work to the standards of the institutions we serve — and treat a private family portrait with the same restraint as a museum altarpiece.
Every intervention is reversible, recorded photographically under identical light, and delivered with a full condition report.
“We are not painters. We are the people who learn to disappear, so that the painter can be seen again.”
Assessments
Send us a photograph in daylight and a few lines about the work. We will reply with a written first assessment and, if it is wanted, an appointment to see it in person — at no charge.
Request an assessmentOr write to us — studio@lumen.atelier