Restoring A 16th-Century Yellowed Wooden Sculpture | Refurbished | Insider

[@neophoys]

Okay you lost me at using the ancient drill press. Why would you use a less accurate and reliable tool to do restauration? Wouldn't you want to minimize the chances of damaging it further? Genuinely curious!

[@fabrizio483]

Are you an art restoration specialist?

[@dertobbe1176]

​@@fabrizio483 Look how it looks like after it. Not even the angel is fitting. After "restoration" he looks on the ground...

[@fabrizio483]

@@dertobbe1176 She just removed the varnish that wasn't there to begin with. Original artworks sometimes don't align with our perception, much like the old Roman statues that were all painted.

[@basilmemories]

1) they aren't drilling into the old wood. they're drilling into the plugs that they put in with fish glue, aka a reversible glue. 2) drill presses are used because they are in fact, quite accurate. it's a drill that only has a vertical degree of motion, so if your hand slips or has a tremble, you don't drill at an odd angle or gouge out wood you want to keep. to illustrate, imagine you're trying to screw a bolt into a wall with a standard impact driver, if you can't hold the tool steady or you're working at an awkward angle, it's going to go wrong, now imagine the driver has a guide that's flush to the wall and ONLY lets you drive the bolt into the wall or remove it, that's the difference between freehand drilling and using a drill press.

[@dertobbe1176]

@@fabrizio483 Well It's not about the dirt. Look at the angle of his view. He looks on the ground now

[@robjelliott]

Please say the posting date is relevant! All the original artists effort of toning the face has been wiped out and completely ruined

[@SueLoberger]

Incredible to watch the meticulous work done and the beautiful results! You should be very proud.

[@BlenderStudy]

Amazing work. The statue's face looks like it was recently made. Thank you for the update, Insider..!!

[@miguelg1370]

The angle in which the figure is placed was botched, now it’s looking straight down. All the rest was done great.

[@ChrisWhiteAroundTheGround]

Utterly fascinating, thanks not only for the restoration but also for this video.

[@anitahoffmann5775]

They make a mistake -I Write in German: wenn man klassische Malerei praktiziert, dann weiß man , dass hier die Restaurierung fehlgeschlagen ist: denn der Firnis (auch Zwischenfirnis)hat eine gewisse Aufgabe neben den Schutz, nämlich leichte Schattierungen zu betonen, die teils mit der Lasur aufgetragen werden! Wenn dieser Firnis aber entfernt wird, dann wird auch diese durchscheinende Lasur/Schattierung mit entfernt!

[@anitahoffmann5775]

They make a mistake -I Write in German: if you practice classical painting, then you know that the restoration has failed here: because the varnish (also intermediate varnish) has a certain task in addition to protection, namely to emphasize light shades that are partly be applied with the glaze! But if this varnish is removed, then this translucent glaze/shade is also removed!

[@simona.h.9094]

Sehr gut, dass du das ansprichst! Diese voreilige und aggressive Abnahme von Firnissen ist eine irreversible Katastrophe. Die frinischen Schattierungen sind verloren. Unglaublich, dass das vermeintliche Profis nicht erkannt haben. Das ergebnis ist flach, eindimensional und puppenhaft. Eine Schande! Wenn überhaupt, sollte man in solch einem Fall den Firnis leicht ausdünnen, je nach Dicke. Ansonsten nur die Oberfläche sanft reinigen und partiell stabilisieren wo nötig.

[@BryanM362]

Awesome! Restorations like this are a career I could sink my teeth into!

[@Rose-bb4ze]

just my opinion but i liked the "yellowed" look on the sculpture more than the restored version.. the face lost all its depth with the new paint

[@PSPguy2]

I agree. The before face looked more natural.

[@rebeccapaul6455]

I kind of feel the same way. It's what we 21st century people expect...that look of great age. But imagine what 16th century folk saw when it was first presented in a church or what caused a private patron to gasp when the sculpture was delivered. A glorious, new freshly colored work.

[@florindalucero3236]

@@rebeccapaul6455 It's like with ancient greek and roman statues, we expect them to be all white because the Victorians sand blasted them. when you see repros of how they would have looked, gaudy, loud, and full of life, you get a totally different understanding of what they meant and what effect they would have had.

[@erueru2014]

So George didn't mind when the dragon was fed just regular young women from the town?

[@I_WANT_MY_SLAW]

Why would he?

[@erueru2014]

@@I_WANT_MY_SLAW yeah they were just peasents, not real humans like the princess ;)

[@alangknowles]

That was much larger than I first thought.

[@katfromthekong414]

The after-version looks like a 12 year old painted it .... the face has lost all its expressiveness. Looked better before if you ask me.

[@rustedvulture8974]

It’s about returning it to its original form, not the better form

[@katfromthekong414]

@@rustedvulture8974 I think it's debatable that the final result resembles the original form. That's the whole point.

[@M3ganwillslay]

Remember the *Spanish lady who restored a painting of Jesus ... LoL 😂 I still cannot forget it .and the Conan sketch !

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

ecce mono is the name ^^

[@aoterou]

It was a Spanish lady… and since then Spain has become the world capital of ridiculously botched restorations (I lost count at 5)

[@M3ganwillslay]

@@aoterou omg yes yes spanish ..sorry

[@PhantomFilmAustralia]

That botched restoration you're talking about has brought some serious tourism dollars to the community. It has come known as a "successful failure."

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

@@PhantomFilmAustralia yeah, I skimmed the wikipedia article, and it says that ecce mono increased tourism to the town by like 20 times for several years. the church started taking money to see it, and the painter got royalties from souveniers.

[@shogun9184]

Maybe just me...: i think the vintage original looks waaay better

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

they mostly made it more vintage and more original, because the grey was dirt and old non-original varnish. you can see that the pink skin is original because it shows up underneath the gunk. they also brought out way more of the original gold, which is nice. the side by side pictures are a bit badly adjusted to highlight the change. the results shown later in the video do look much better than the pre-restoration state.

[@dertobbe1176]

Absolutly

[@mouse5178]

May be so but the reality is it was way different from original and actually worse given the varnish over dirt etc

[@stel1000]

It did loose the gradation on the lips red and the pose is kinda different given that they didn’t attach it same as before on the dragon . Also I think there might have been some lost details like tiny hair painted on the varnish or something

[@slayer7833]

agreed

[@fionabryant7923]

I like the original better too

[@mikemorrisonmusic]

The vocal fry, though.

[@miguelangelc.a.5268]

They did a great job into the armour, restoration in detail, cleaness, but....the change the face expresion from the original. I'm from Barcelona. I live on Barcelona and I know several antique shops on Barcelona. This sepulturero must be bougth from one of the finest antique Shops in the Carrer de la Palla , very near Plaça del Pi where the Basílica of Santa Maria del Pi is. Between the basílica and Caelum , the most antique coffe~shop of Barcelona. They served the sweets from all monasteries of Spain and the second floor it is carved over roman age rocks.

[@BigboiiTone]

Dude looks blazed af😂 but if I had to sit for hours , waiting for a sculptor to render my face, I'd need to take the edge off the boredom myself

[@lynettemayhew1723]

Beautiful restore. Job well done👍

[@SharonRaeRyan]

Amazing restoration!

[@LinRuiEn]

Cleaning the old varnish off the face and hands was like removing a dead skin... It looks so alive now!

[@MTCopyright]

It looked better before 😢

[@thealaris]

But it look as it should now

[@franzrogar]

8:48 A coat ofshellac? Won't that turn yellow over time? Wouldn't have been more proper to add a restoration damar natural resin with UV protection? That way you prevent discoloration and yellowish at the same time protecting the original pigments...

[@williamglaser6577]

What happened to the sword or spear, clearly it is missing.

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

looks like they didn't have an original and improvised a new one. I guess the finish is good enough, but they skimped on the shape, I think it's very unlikely that the original was just a pointy stick. it probably would have had a gilded lance head. but then they would have had to make a guess about the shape of it, preferably based on other old examples. I also think that they just made it too short, that's not even a good pointy stick.

[@electrojones]

I can't believe those Barcelonians let him down packing and shipping this thing so poorly. The Barcelonial work ethic has really gone to pot since the assassination of King Barcalounger.

[@smashonlamez]

What is with underhanded yet racist comment 😂 idc about Barcelona but dropping knowledge like it’s factual, and not racist it’s funny to me. lol

[@electrojones]

Brilliant comment. No notes.

[@maryannecross4220]

Wow! Absolutely fascinating thank you, he is as he was made 👏👏👏🇬🇧

[@JohnLobert]

Why do all your sentences sound like questions?

[@nikolaip4947]

I'm not an art specialist, historian or anything of the sort. But to me it looked way better before, and the face doesn't look good at all now. Also looks for feminine and a different expression

[@AlexPerry-s6x]

3:40 bruh this is The Front Bottoms album cover

[@khurramkhurshed9427]

Unique Art 🎨 ✨️

[@lucysuffolk6599]

Beautiful shots tainted by vocal fry. Such a pity.

[@sharit7970]

wonder what that work costs...

[@MrBrownnn696]

Kinda creeps me out… like at night it moves around…

[@katrussell6819]

She is smart. But the vocal fry is difficult to listen to.

[@simona.h.9094]

This hasty and aggressive removal of varnishes is an irreversible catastrophe. The varnish shades are lost. It's incredible that supposed professionals did not recognize this. The result is flat, one-dimensional, and doll-like. A shame! If anything, in such a case, the varnish should be slightly thinned, depending on the thickness. Otherwise, just gently clean the surface and partially stabilize where necessary.

[@AI-hx3fx]

So. Soothing.

[@AD-Dom]

A disappointing treatment at that.

[@fabrizio483]

Fascinating!

[@enricospedicato5543]

Saint George? Without the horse? Why not Saint Michael Archangel?

[@Onsvaltti]

I'm sorry, but the narrator voice is kinda annoying 🙈💦 I don't know if it's the accent or the raspy nasal voice, but it was kinda distracting.

[@keishas6162]

Fire wood 🪵

[@19Bmiller]

Amazing

[@guldenaydin9918]

🌈💐

[@karlosp02]

St. Michael

[@deandretan55]

Is it just me or that statue looks like st Michael

[@kakungcu]

Restoring a 16th century yellowed wooden

[@mudlark4099]

I liked the aged look best.

[@Nathaniel_E_Dearing]

How do you know the dirt under the varnish _wasn't_ supposed to be there? Perhaps it was meant to represent dirt from the battlefield, and was applied to the sculpture on purpose?

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

because they do this for a living. fake patina is discernible from real dirt, and hardly ever comes off as easily.

[@frankstrawnation]

And they were paid to make the sculpture look worst. At least D. Cecilia did her "restoration" of the painting of Jesus for free.

[@vladtheinhaler3226]

This creepy thing is now clean. Let's put it in a child's bedroom.

[@Ass_of_Amalek]

unlikely to happen after somebody just spent thousands of dollars on fixing it.

[@vladtheinhaler3226]

@@Ass_of_Amalek It'll likely wonder off on it's own anyhow. Probably to strangle some college students having a Halloween party.

[@mwmwmwmwmmdw]

hilarious april fools video!

[@lilyHussey]

Looks to me you botched a beautiful piece of history.... maybe delete this lol.

[@subswithoutvids-dw6dv]

It’s a sculpture with a story.

[@MatheusHenrique-jk4my]

Old Christian action figure

[@theresadimaggio7241]

Great job

[@lizhao6979]

後邊的屏風是中國式。要說起貴種族的完美主義也是沒治了😄

[@shshankking]

I don't know why but I want to burn it and see how the 16th century wood burns..

[@cantthinkofausername8698]

St George looks like my gran.

[@They_Intend_To_Destroy_Us]

What do you know, even the white wall looks more vibrant and brighter in the “AFTER” shot.

[@redbutterfly88]

Too much yellow gold for my taste.. botched