You forgot engineer, researcher, and probably other stuff I'm too tired to think of. Oh, right, all of the video stuff, the voice over, probably script writing, etc... Like, how is he so capable?! I'm like, ugh, the bathroom next to my bedroom is so far away, and he's out here just getting a ton of work done, so freaking artfully! I'd almost be angry with him, if I wasn't so soothed by him.
Insect jewelry was the fashion at time, because of Egyptian archeology brining the scarab design to Europe. The interest went so far as wearing live insects on chains or in small cages
😱 Um. I can see where that'd be effective with one of those enormous iridescent Amazonian jungle beetles for example, but... eeesh!! Nasty thing to do to the insects, and just the thought of those spiny little feet perhaps touching one's skin through the jewelry cage... double eeesh!!
Thank you for this, Walter. You have brought even more important information about this painting to my heart. A young girl keeping with the times by wearing a real looking insect in her ear. I love it.
I love that she also has a row of similar bees in her hair. You can see them when he is removing the varnish from around her eyes. They are visible at the beginning as well but harder to see under the yellowed varnish.
Thank you for the observation! The idea of wearing a live insect in a cage horrified me! The discovery of a large Palmetto bug on my coat turned me into a screaming masher! However I had to go out on the internet and check. Sure enough, Truth! I have bought and carefully sewn down iridescent beetle wing casings for a specific effect. The insects are specifically raised for the purpose in Asia. I have Bee broaches in my stash as well, but they are suitably metallic!
i for real had to pause at that moment and give it a good laugh, he said "i can see with my eyes" and my brain just stopped hearing after that, as if that was the whole answer
"Patina" is, pardon my French, merde. It's dirt, it's decay, it's oxidation. I did furniture restoration for a spell, and it really grossed me out how some folks didn't understand that their precious patina was just a hundred years of ground-in dead skin cells and tobacco residue. The original woodworkers and tailors would've been aghast that people wanted to preserve filth on their hard work.
@@TheRealColBosch While I tend to agree that most furniture does not warrant the gross, sticky residue some refer to as patina, there ARE some cases where a patina is actually added by an artist. For instance, when I made a frame with beautiful carving, I added a paint called patina to add emphasis to the carving and made the recesses stand out on a guilt paint to keep it from looking flat. When I made a stained glass panel or window, I purposely use chemicals intended to oxidize the leading lines because bright shinny silver solder distracts from the glass while dark grey and smoothly colored lines recede and even out to become part of the design. Though a few designs do call for a "copper" patina that well, looks like a dull copper.
This painting is so beautiful. I feel like we as the audience get to know the subject, get to feel who she was. The way she stares right at you, and the little smile she has--I wonder what she was like. She seems like she would've been fun to have a cup of tea with.
To all viewers who thought that "Probably not doing all that well" was addressed to you - I feel you. Things are gonna get better, I promise. You're strong and beautiful, you got this, I believe in you
Julian: Well hello! Me: Hi! Julian: How are you? Me: I'm ok.. i guess.. Julian: Well, you're in my conservation studio, probably not doing that well. Me: Actually yes.. I'm a little bit s- Also me: *realize he was talking to the painting* *dies*
It’s like you turned the lights on with your restoration. Like she was in a dusty room and you took her outside or at least opened the drapes. This is amazing work and you do such a respectful loving job each time ❤❤❤❤
I took my border collie out for a night hike in a frost covered forest, got home, showered and ate, and got into bed and sat with a drowsy and happy pup in my lap, petting him as I watched this.
'seems a little punk rock to me' that was absolutely so much funnier than any of you give it credit for. could anyone else hear the pride of that joke in his voice or was that just me specifically
I did not even realize she had something in her hair before you started the restoration. Amazing work. I enjoyed your commentary about patina vs restoring a painting and I completely agree.
tbh Julian's attention to detail on the tacking edges makes perfect sense. I've been sewing since i was a kid (to various degrees of success) and clean, neat seams on the inside of a garment really do add a lot to making it seem pretty and professional, even if you don't see it while the clothes are on. It may not matter to a passive viewer, but little details like that can really make the piece so much nicer for the person who owns it. (also the way you can see the scissors struggle with the Kevlar thread before cutting away.... ooof. i feel that)
Nothing makes me feel safer as an artist than the knowledge that there are people like you who care so deeply about the intention behind the creation. Thank you so much for all the work you do, it's beautiful to see
What a gorgeous painting, and a stunningly beautiful subject. She's radiant after the repairs, and those little, tiny bees in her hair ribbon, the tiny bee earring... they're so sweet. 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
_She looks fantastic, we can see her as the artist wanted us to see her and we can get an idea of who she really was; she has a piercing gaze,_ *_shes rocking a pretty rad bee earring_* That line killed me haha
I am always intrigued when I see those old portrait paintings. I start to wonder who those people were. Like this young lady, I wonder what was her personality like? I hope she had a happy life. A portrait painting is a small fragment of someone's life-time that has been captured.
omg I just gotta say that the way you tacked down the back of that painting was so satisfying! Like watching a fitted sheet get folded perfectly. Beautiful work!
When removing the tacks from an antique upholstery piece during restoration/reupholster I was taught to save all the tack depending on their age. The older racks were made by hand. A long and arduous task. They would be reused.
100% legit there, I was watching the restoration of an old photo a few days ago and the lady was saying she was using fine Japanese paper for the repair and I was all like ooooh Washi Kozo? (probably misspelled lol)
@@Celebriel82 oh god I feel you!! Like, whenever I see a painting that has an old vernish on it I can just tell by looking at it, and when I see a restored one I see more of the details, one day I was explaining the whole process Julian usually goes by in front of a piece 😅
I love that these newer videos give great presentation and explanation of some of the "early stuff" (UV pictures etc.) now. It's so fascinating to look at all that goes into modern conservation, not just the removal of varnish and repaint, although I still love those parts
The angle you remounted the painting also changes the energy the young woman radiates. On the old mounting she looked tired, maybe bored. She is tilted back a bit more in the redo and it seems to make her more with you in the moment.
"blacks and greens are harder" *glares at the 8 shades of green in my watercolor box that still don't give me the right colors* I knew I was onto you bastards Also, as a seamstress, fighting to get a rounded fabric edge smooth is a mood
Jullian: Hello, how are you? Well I see you're in my conservation studio so you're probably not doing that well Me, watching this 06 AM to help with my insomnia: he knows o_o
I would love to see the people’s reaction to his work because it’s like magic seeing the painting comeback to what the artist saw before ageing happened
Julian- you could do the fitting of the canvas pieces for the edge even easier with quilters' tools. A cutting mat, straight edge and rotary cutter would allow you to make exact cuts along the rays from the center point to the edges.
His voice, charisma and beautiful words are the only therapy I need... I know he was talking to the painting but he patched me up and sent me on my way... BOLD AND BEEEEUTIFUL!!! I just act like me he's really talking to me and it works
I wish I could get a portrait to match my personality. :) Magnificent work. She looked so much younger after the restoration, so much more relatable. :)
This guy is BEYOND impressive. When I see the random damage to that painting, I wonder how it could have happened... I imagine a cosmopolitan town has just learned that the enemy has crossed the border, rumors spread that the wealthy landowners have fled their estates and so the wealthy merchants in town are panicked, desperate to save what they can from the ensuing looters... a couple family members secretly bury jewels and coins in the garden (to be recovered at a later date) while other family members instruct the household staff to grab their most cherished items of value and irreplaceable family heirlooms. In the ensuing chaotic haste, their prized possessions are clumsily stacked on top of each other and made to fit where possible, when packing them onto the top of their carriages, in a mad rush to escape to the relative safety of their summer place in a neighboring country.
I wish we could do this to real people! She seemed old and tired in the beginning, but by the end she got young and beautiful again. Of course thanks to the master restorer. She does have very beautiful eyes. Awesome job as always!
There are a lot of people not on the top of their game today or else they are wearing out this joke that stopped being even vaguely amusing about 6 people ago.
She’s absolutely beautiful! I love your videos and truly appreciate the hard work you do in conservation and bringing us along on the journey. Thank you for all that you do!
"my methods are fully reversible just in case someone decides they dont like it in the future" me: WHY would anyone WANT to reverse that when this man put so much perfection just in the tacking edge??? only reason anyones removing that is cuz they HAVE to. its beautiful! "
Oh god! One time in college I forgot the isolation before the retouching and them a huge dark cloud ruined my day. I did the retouching and the next class i had to do it all over again. The joy 🤩
You truly inspire me! The fact that you sound so fascinating because of how much knowledge you have and passionate you are about your job really motivates me to become something and acquire this amount of knowledge about something..
I'm no expert, but getting the hair right away would have meant stopping to get tweezers when tapping the varnish before it starts drying is more important.
I work in the security field and it occurs to me that our jobs have something in common. If we do a good job, no-one will ever notice that we did anything.
This is true of any goid job that are important to someone's comfort. The comfort of the soul is the gift of the artist. The work going into it must be effortless to those that experiene the result
Baumgartner: Well you're in my conservation studio so you're probably not doing that well Me: *thinking that he was talking to me and not the painting* 👁️👄👁️
I remember up at Kenwood House when I was doing a summer job with English Heritage, and I noticed that one of the Rembrandt portraits, of this nominally Puritan Protestant woman, had a jewelled hair ornament. Rembrandt had painted this sweet sad lady with a tiny ornamentation, maybe just a tinge of comfort in a cold Puritan world.
this makes me a bit uncomforable in some ways, was the previous restoration a best effort with resources and knowledge of the time, much like hes using the best effort and knowledge of THIS time in history, could well be in 50 years someone is like "why the heck did this guy use this varnish we all now know that its not as stable as claimed and could degrade the canvass" or something like that.. the best knowledge, materials and practice of one time can be woeful in hindsight and today we may do things that the future will see as bad too
@@Simon-ho6lynot true. most of the restoration methods this guy uses (and conservators in general) have been common practice for decades or even centuries. yes, our understanding of chemical properties and the aging process of certain materials has improved, but the techniques are the same. the previous restoration effort was pretty lazy and sloppy for any time period
The closest Julian ever got to murder was when he saw that patch covering the inscription and that the adhesive was non-reversible. (Without counting that painting he had to scrape for 84 years)
