Restoration of Old Oil Paintings
The first thing that comes into the mind of most individuals who are thinking of restoring an old oil painting is cost versus other factors.
We have a few warnings to give you here, which are serious ones.
- Do not attempt to do it yourself. You could easily do more damage than good and that would end up causing unexpected damage that will leave the painting in worse shape than when you started your do-it-yourself restoration project.
- It would be better not to have your painting restored than to have it restored by the cheapest restorer that you can find. The one operative word that we use to caution people about making this choice is “RISK.” Make sure you use an oil painting restorer who has at least one genuine fine art collector and one gallery owner whose contact information they are willing to share with you for a reference. Of course, they should have more, but they will not want to arbitrarily divulge more of their clients’ information than is necessary.
What can a restorer do for your old oil painting? Just about anything. The only exception would be a painting that has been in a fire where the paint and varnish have come under such intense heat that the varnish has melted into the paint. In this case the painting could be restored only by repainting.
The turn around time for a painting to be restored depends on what type of restoration is necessary and occasionally things as simple as the size of the painting and the season.
The best thing about getting your painting restored is that the value and mere pleasure of viewing it will be increased.
