Conservation: dramatic transformation of a huge royal portrait

Рет қаралды 104,881

Victoria and Albert Museum

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер

@katherinenoggle6407 4 ай бұрын

Oh yes, the music is overwhelming the dialogue AND VIDEO, which I hadn't thought possible.

@christineschloss7217 4 ай бұрын

Agree. Music is very distracting, especially if you're hearing impaired, as I am.

@justjane2070 4 ай бұрын

Love the fact that you can look at photos of the jewels 💎

@CaratsRitzy 3 ай бұрын

As an artist and history nerd, I love it when conservators talk about their thought process behind their work. It's pretty hard to watch and hear the process when the music is in the foreground.

@plakor6133 4 ай бұрын

High level work, there, by the conservators. It's fascinating how the restored original emerges.

@devinchanell 4 ай бұрын

The peeling of the layers is so neat. It’s like the peeling of skin from a sunburn.

@vamuseum 4 ай бұрын

so 🤤 satisfying 🤤

@CrowSkeleton 4 ай бұрын

His skin looks so soft and luminous now, and those details on the robe...! Capital job, I hope Fath 'Ali Shah'd be pleased with it.

@arashfariman 4 ай бұрын

He was in love with fashion, glamour, luxury, and of course women. Ge had numerous countless kids from his dozens of wives and concubines. He loved to be seen thin and tall and also he lost the whole Caucasian Iranian terrortories of nowdays Armenia, Azarbaijan, Georgia, Daghistan, and parts of current southern border terrortories of Russian lands to Tzars

@taxpayer1040 4 ай бұрын

A brilliant video of a high standard conservation. We hope to see the painting in the gallery very soon. I am so glad that you had a copy of the book of the Iranian Crown Jewels. I have been fortunate to see these on several occasions (recently too) and to see them in reality is amazing and wonderful. There is a globe that when you see it you cannot quite believe it. Thank you so much.

@kristenholland336 4 ай бұрын

Don’t mind the music, but it needs to be really put in the background. It is too loud.

@paustinheaton 4 ай бұрын

Stunning portrait and love the new tissue method of cleaning. Thank you for sharing.

@yvetteghajari5792 4 ай бұрын

Fantastic to see, this is my husband's great grandfather ×4 , we live in Australia now but love to see the wonderful restoration work being done.

@donaldwarriner1640 4 ай бұрын

Thrilling to see it at all but your work makes it all the more delightful.

@mvdl1224 4 ай бұрын

Stunning but I was so curious to see a closeup of the reconstructed jewel headpiece.

@DannyDaCat 4 ай бұрын

Right?!? But then again, how would they get us into the museum?!?

@nicololanci9441 4 ай бұрын

Love when museums spread awareness about our profession!! Great work

@rockross8561 4 ай бұрын

Show the full length, before and after, for better satisfaction... really beautiful... what a man!

@debbralehrman5957 4 ай бұрын

Thank you this was very interesting.🤔 Learning how you are able to see what was done in the past. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🌺

@jaimeochoa7256 4 ай бұрын

Fascinating to watch this marvelous painting being restored....you breathed new life into it.... Congratulations and thank you for sharing your expertise and dedication...❤

@HomeFromFarAway 4 ай бұрын

Amazing work! I would love to see longform videos about restoration and conservation❤

@brucetidwell7715 3 ай бұрын

It's really beautiful! Three years is a long time to spend on one project. I think for me that it would be a sort of bitter sweet experience to finish it. On one hand the pride and pleasure in what you've accomplished, but then a sort of hopefully slight "postpartum depression" to have it done after such an intimate journey with the piece. I really wish I had made a career of Art restoration. I think I would have been very good at it, and certainly enjoyed it, but it wasn't even on my radar as something to consider when I was in art school.

@ShadiyahOfMaryland 4 ай бұрын

Simply excellent conservation work! Merci for sharing!

@leisongivangomo4478 4 ай бұрын

Thank you for sharing this excellent restoration. I really like the impact to the beard and robe!

@nadia-i1l5h 4 ай бұрын

Thrilling, she is an artist

@vamuseum 4 ай бұрын

Laura's skill is something else

@zoebell1535 4 ай бұрын

This was totally interesting but I couldn't bear to watch it because the music was so obtrusive. This isn't entertainment; this is a really interesting class. In a school setting, there wouldn't be music accompanying a great professor, right? Please consider letting us focus on the material, and learning something. Thank you 🌸

@annag8613 4 ай бұрын

Wow what a wonderfully satisfying and enriching profession. The art looks incredible.

@mantronixtube 4 ай бұрын

could just look at those eyes and know it's persian. half my family has these features. very original persian features. causasian. this is so amazing. no one really knows the persian history even though it was the biggest empire in history. thank you this was awesome.

@IPostSwords 4 ай бұрын

Qajar era Iran is a fascinating era which is often underrepresented in lieu of earlier periods. Very fine conservation work, the difference in clarity and vibrance is much more in line with the aesthetic sensibilities of Qajar Iran The tissue peeling technique is quite interesting - in metal conservation I sometimes use peelable hydrogels for similar purposes. Seems to have worked well for this application, too.

@HomeFromFarAway 4 ай бұрын

I would really love to see content in this. as an artist, conservation fascinates me

@asmallsectionoflife 4 ай бұрын

Thanks for the video, never knew what the behind the scenes process of restoration looked like😄

@eirikkvilten2064 4 ай бұрын

The background music makes this nearly unwatchable. It’s very… Channel4, if that makes sense?

@futuristica1710 2 ай бұрын

It’s not ASMR for your enjoyment. It’s entertainment.

@finch45lear 27 күн бұрын

Outstanding work. The painting is gorgeous.

@lindacsmith13 4 ай бұрын

that was an amazing way to clean it. Baumgartner would be proud.

@naomiweaver1855 3 ай бұрын

Stunning! I love these conservation videos!

@auntiemjo 4 ай бұрын

This was SO interesting! Thank you Ms. Ledwina for showing us your work.

@chrisnorth5832 4 ай бұрын

I love to hear the restorer's voice, and perhaps the sounds of her machinations. In fact, many of the V&A videos have an ASMR component. Why add music? It's unnecessary and distracting.

@andreakirkby 3 ай бұрын

It's fascinating to see how art history, political history and conservation techniques all come together to revive this painting - congrats on a really well rounded treatment of the subject, and a painstaking, successful conservation.

@jeanneblondewomanstamping9788 4 ай бұрын

Lovely work. The painting came to light!

@lozw2645 4 ай бұрын

What’s with this music choice?! It’s not a suspense film 🤔

@kimcarlisle1510 4 ай бұрын

What painstaking and beautiful work. well done!

@kristi9475 4 ай бұрын

Thank you, Laura and V&A! Fantastic work and video, as always.

@DipityS 3 ай бұрын

Fabulous job! The painting came up beautifully. I didn't even notice the music so that wasn't a factor for me.

@williamfahey6066 4 ай бұрын

This is really interesting. I like this video a lot. The painting is fantastic.

@rickaust5887 4 ай бұрын

Fabulous! Thanks very much for the upload.

@hunderslash 4 ай бұрын

Would have loved to see the surface wrinkles flattened out. I’m guessing they’re a result of the 2nd canvas being badly applied. Was the 2nd canvas not removed due to potential risk to the painting on removal? I’m a little disappointed there was no vacuum table because those are so cool to watch and I love the results. That painting is really big though so maybe it wasn’t possible with that size. The use of that paper to remove varnish and overpaint was super interesting. Was that also used to stabilize the paint? I was a bit confused at that part. The retouching was great. The missing pieces of crown really confused me. What happened there? at some points it almost looked like actual crystals of some kind were used on the painting? Did they fall off or something? Anyway despite my nitpicks the end result is 1000x better. Also I never hear about Iran’s history so I appreciate the background here, very cool to have context for this painting.

@HomeFromFarAway 4 ай бұрын

I would have LOVED to see all the procedures in much more detail. maybe with this wonderful woman narrating?

@lynnblack6493 3 ай бұрын

That really is a transformation. And such an interesting historical and technical discussion. Appreciated very much.

@Smurphy415 3 ай бұрын

Thank God, I had the half mute option on my remote, and that seem to help really allow me to listen to this without wanting to rip my eardrums out from this crazy music😢

@forlostnfound 3 ай бұрын

Fantastic!

@miarrem 4 ай бұрын

The music is annoying....love the commentary

@futuristica1710 2 ай бұрын

It’s not ASMR for your enjoyment. It’s entertainment.

@JOHNKIRBY1000 Күн бұрын

Very, very impressive - well done!

@susannahallanic1167 4 ай бұрын

It is a beautiful painting again!

@karenwiley2889 4 ай бұрын

So beautiful and great talent

@anarey-oktay2683 3 ай бұрын

Such a privilege to work on such a piece.

@rayreineu 4 ай бұрын

Wow it looks so beautiful after retouching

@sewsew100 4 ай бұрын

Lovely video but would be better without the music.

@futuristica1710 2 ай бұрын

It’s not ASMR for your enjoyment. It’s entertainment.

@Condottier 4 ай бұрын

Why did you have to pick such stressful music? Was the media producer in a hurry?

@homayounazarnoush5699 4 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for your impressive video about a wonderful old Iranian artwork and also thanks to the professionals that with passion and patience worked on, however Fatali Shah was one of the worse shah(king) in our contemporary history of Iran.👍💯

@HomeFromFarAway 4 ай бұрын

I sort of figured he was awful from his requirement of being painted in "eternal youth"

@blueprairiedog 4 ай бұрын

Superb work!

@GaitaPonto 4 ай бұрын

fabulous work.

@samanthadean1083 4 ай бұрын

I’d love to see a video about the clothes in the V&A that inspired Beatrix Potter’s story: The Tailor of Gloucester!!!

@maryyram5039 4 ай бұрын

Absolutely fascinating! Hopefully there'll be more conservation focused videos to watch in the future.

@bubblesarah 4 ай бұрын

What a fantastic video

@tasanijanus7092 3 ай бұрын

Please stay true to your format. I love it's composition.

@michaelbuchholz2164 4 ай бұрын

Beautyful! Great job. 😊

@tomjardine-smith2793 4 ай бұрын

This is fascinating. Question though: is there any debate amongst experts over whether this sort of retouching/"conservation" is erasing history? I'm seeing these really interesting past attempts at reconstruction and retouching and I have questions about why that was done, by whom, where, when - but with all that previous retouching work removed and redone, is there not a risk that we lose those chapters of the painting's history?

@TomekTomek333 4 ай бұрын

Really nice. But why portrait wasnt relined? Separation of original canvas from existing relining is visible in form of really big bumps which distort the image.

@miad5059 4 ай бұрын

I do find the music distracting and not needed. I would just like to hear the conservators talk

@yeuxdal 2 ай бұрын

It’s poorly mixed; also I find the vocal recordings very muddy on many of these. Annoying bc I love them.

@ninehaze 4 ай бұрын

Why the tense spy music? Would be far better without it-such great video doesn’t need it!

@HomeFromFarAway 4 ай бұрын

it was too frenetic and too loud. i'd love to see this video stretched out over 30 min with more appropriate music or even just asmr

@ninehaze 4 ай бұрын

@@HomeFromFarAway Right On👏

@ibbledibble 4 ай бұрын

music is too loud

@futuristica1710 2 ай бұрын

It’s not ASMR for your enjoyment. It’s entertainment.

@MarkGovern 3 ай бұрын

Thank you. Great to see it being restored and preserved. How has this come to be part of the V&A collection?

@sleepsleep1209 4 ай бұрын

love the videos but think the music makes them a little less enjoyable to watch

@KristineMaitland 4 ай бұрын

Music of the period would make more sense.

@lilacscentedfushias1852 4 ай бұрын

The vast majority of music is just a horrible noise to be avoided to me, it puts me on edge. So I tend to just mute things, but then I miss anything that’s said. The worst thing is constant music that’s louder than the narrator’s voice, so it’s not only slightly irritating it’s difficult to hear what they’re talking about.

@Gendergoblin123 4 ай бұрын

I don’t think your opinion is valid. This is entertainment, albeit highbrow; the music adds to the atmosphere of the film. It is a joy to listen to.

@HomeFromFarAway 4 ай бұрын

I think anything a bit less frenetic would be an improvement!

@nayomie.e 4 ай бұрын

I like the music

@ssua3035 4 ай бұрын

i would've loved for the conservator to explain why they're not addressing the surface issues

@fedupwelsh7211 4 ай бұрын

I agree about the music. Please don’t!

@futuristica1710 2 ай бұрын

It’s not ASMR for your enjoyment. It’s entertainment.

@futuristica1710 2 ай бұрын

I enjoy this! Great work! Great video. I don’t mind the music. I know it’s entertainment.

@algernonwolfwhistle6351 4 ай бұрын

Great work.

@judithdomangue9995 4 ай бұрын

Well done!

@SB5SimulationsFerroviairesEEP 4 ай бұрын

Cool! Superbe vidéo! Stéph.

@arashfariman 4 ай бұрын

The left side shows the portrait has surely been cut somewhere in its lifetime. It's frame has been also deteriorated

@ankiking 4 ай бұрын

Would love it if Baumgardner Restoration would do a comment series on these kinds of videos. 😊

@kaclama 3 ай бұрын

Why? The V&A staff and Baumgartner are all professional, highly trained restorers. There's nothing controversial about professionals doing their job.

@paulgoodnight7734 4 ай бұрын

3 years, woah! you did the damn thing.

@jekalambert9412 4 ай бұрын

I'm guessing that peeling off of the varnish layer along with some of the underlying pigment will be one of the "conservation" techniques which in the future will be found to be destructive. If the compound used is strong enough to dissolve the varnish, any residual will continue to react with whatever remains on the painting and will degrade it further over time.

@melissaharris3389 4 ай бұрын

I find it strange that the V&A didn't remove the canvas from its support during the reconsolidation and repair work; I wonder why.

@georgekoutsoudopoulos 4 ай бұрын

It depends how it was relined, it can be impossible at times and it's usually good enough to offer some support from the back of the lining before fitting a new blackboard for protection and rigidity.

@HomeFromFarAway 4 ай бұрын

it probably wasn't necessary or helpful to this piece to do so. good conservators are..conservative with their treatments

@squkyshoes 4 ай бұрын

Not to detract from the amazing conservation, but my brain keeps saying, "The painter really used the pre-tech version of a beautify filter." when observing the very tiny nose on the over-painted version.

@kennethcrawford3888 3 ай бұрын

incredible

@mistborn5997 4 ай бұрын

Amazing work! Just I cant see well, but are you sure you did the pin right? To me it seems like the ruby and diamond rows were switched. Maybe that should be retouched again?

@dont-want-no-wrench 4 ай бұрын

man, the patience

@taxpayer1040 4 ай бұрын

Please forgive my adding further, but having looked at Persian art for many years I have not been able to figure in my mind what might be called the bridge between the style of the Safavid (e.g. Mu'in Mussavir and the miniatures in the Houghton Shahnameh). But I am fortunate to often have visited an extraordinary place, and this is the wonderfully preserved Vank Cathedral in Isfahan. The interior has the most extraordinary paintings in what may be described as Armenian or Icon in style. Perhaps this may be a possibility.

@charlenejandik6587 4 ай бұрын

They did nothing about the 'wrinkles' and ridges on the canvas. Substandard work; not a restoration, just a 'freshen up'. The distortions detract from the amazing painting.

@therabbithouse1 4 ай бұрын

The music is incredibly annoying/distracting.

@isamukim1693 4 ай бұрын

Surely the V&A will take dutely note of your very important opinion...

@HomeFromFarAway 4 ай бұрын

@@isamukim1693 how many comments do you count from multiple people complaining. get off your high horse

@futuristica1710 2 ай бұрын

@@HomeFromFarAway It’s not ASMR for your enjoyment. It’s entertainment.

@HomeFromFarAway 2 ай бұрын

@@futuristica1710 the music is annoying. AND your statement contradicts itself

@ISIO-George 3 ай бұрын

Interesting seeing the work on such a large painting, and also the part about testing every pigments for resistance to the solvents, and not just a few areas. Maybe they left out some parts, but a few things I don't get. For smaller painting in tis condition usually the stretcher is removed, the old lining removed, and the original canvas flattened on a heat table, and then the painting relined. Did they not have the room needed for this? Not practical for such a large painting? Or maybe the past relining was not easily reversible? Also why the decision not to fill divots and chipping in the painting before retouching, and why was there no isolation layer before retouching? Anyway, it looks so much better now.

@kaclama 3 ай бұрын

Let me guess, you watched a Baumgartner video and now you think you know more than one of the most experienced, highly trained museum staff in the world.

@ISIO-George 3 ай бұрын

@@kaclama I'm asking a question, not saying what should have been done. My questions were to see if anyone knows why they made the choices they did, as they only showed what they did and not why they did it. And if you don't know the answer to my questions, as apparently you do not, you have nothing to offer and should shut up.

@wfarriss9301 4 ай бұрын

Part of the charm of the image is showing it’s age. She took a few hundred years off this picture, destroying the patina of time.😢

@joshjacob1530 4 ай бұрын

6:36 very true

@StellarRiot 4 ай бұрын

This is really neat, but why does a video from a world class museum not have competent captioning? Why do I have to puzzle through auto generated captions that can't get any of the names or specialized terms being used correct? Please remember that this is the only way some viewers can get the spoken information in the video.

@naomiweaver1855 3 ай бұрын

I didn’t even notice the music. Too caught up in the color.

@remenissions13 3 ай бұрын

Not sure about this conservation. You lost all the definition of the nose. Looking at other portraits of this Shah from the period, the nose is always painted more defined. A small cursory Google search also shows that the "second nostril" is actually a mole/birth mark that is depicted relatively often on his face on that side. I could of course be wrong, so I apologise. But the nose could definitely have been better defined - it looks botched.