Cleaning varnish from an early 19th century oil painting

A lot of the paintings I receive are inherited. Passed down from a relative or family member with huge sentimental value attached. Like this one now being cared for cleaned and restored.
I’m always amazed that a family painting hanging on the wall for years will bear witness to so much life and will outlive many of us. How many times will it have been looked at, where will it have transported the viewer. What does the child feel when it looks at the painting now as an adult. These objects become so much more to us, they can act as time travel transporting us back to a different space.
I can still remember the pictures hanging in my granddads house, Bruegel’s The Hunters in the Snow, and The Arnolfini Portrait “Wedding” by Jan Van Eyck. I used to stare at them as a child whilst my parents chatted with my grandad, they always have a special place in my heart when I see them and who knows what influence they had on me as a child and how they have fed into my subconscious…. Unfortunately I don’t know what happened to them but if I close my eyes I can focus on them and then slowly build the whole room and atmosphere around them …magic…
.

[@NinaHansen2008]

Thank you for posting this!

[@Bloomfield_Art_Restoration]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@kh7794]

It's REALLY annoying when the commercials are longer than the actual video!!

[@Bloomfield_Art_Restoration]

Sorry some of these were supposed to be shorts and are over 1 minute in length thats whu you get an add - my bad , i only post shorts less than a minute now if I can help it