see also: rabbit-skin & elmer’s glue, natural resin varnish, staples, white lead paint, freaking cement adhesive, and of course, a healthy serving of copiously layered filling medium and overpainting
There's something really tickling about the painter signing their name on the back and making the same mistake so many of us make when writing on a large canvas. Starting in the middle, with large confident letters, and ending on the edge of the canvas with the letters thin and touching. Leaving us with our folly. 😂
Definitive proof that people were still human no matter how many centuries have passed since their existence. It's easy to think that someone from hundreds of years ago was some great artist, or innovative scientist... we don't often think of those same people getting too overzealous when writing "Happy Birthday" on an ill-folded piece of paper 😅
4:44 - You must love Julian's expression change as he finds the inscription, like unwrapping a present, to giggling and whopping an "ALL RIGHT !!" with pure joy !
When I saw that, I knew that that signature was going to be visible When Julian was finished. No way he was going to cover up that important a piece of provenance.
Honestly, with how the signature is cut off at the end, I have to wonder if the tacking edges weren't cut off along with "resizing" the painting to make it fit another frame or space!
I know that there are fellow weirdos out there who will understand me when I say that watching Julian clean a painting is one of my favourite things to watch!
6:10 - Hey Julian! Whilst you were smelling that paintbrush, did you notice a weird fishy smell? If you did, that's what pure nicotine smells like! It's an amine and therefore has a weird fishy smell. I always wondered why some vapes had that weird smell about them. Now we both know! I think most of the smell on that paintbrush was from the tar. The long-chained, poly-cyclic carbon compounds formed through incomplete combustion. Because those compounds are so big, they have significant van der waals forces and like to stick to surfaces. Over time, the slightly shorter chained, less cyclic compounds evaporate off because they're slightly more volatile and the stickier larger molecules build up on the surface forming that icky sticky dark coloured layer on the paintings surface. That's also why the painting didn't smell *too* too bad until you started to clean it. Those slightly volatile compounds that slowly evaporate are what you smell at first. But when you agitate the surface grime, and mix it with solvent, you're aerosolizing those compounds that have built up on the surface, and some co-evaporate with the solvent. So in effect you get the smell of decades worth of smoke exposure, in a few seconds. Eeew. Also, nicotine on it's own can be detrimental to paintings too. It's oily and absorbs water. It also breaks down on exposure to oxygen and UV to make substances like methylamine which cause further damage by being reactive.
It feels like the paintings give a sigh of relief whenever he cleans them, touches them up, and making them look almost new again. It's like getting home from a long day at school or work and taking a shower and getting into cool comfy clothes and just resting
I know this step is generally skipped to keep the videos engaging, but I'd love to see the solvent testing portion of the cleaning process at some point. It just seems really interesting.
Just as Julian talks about poetry during the cleaning process his voice makes poetry in narration. Even before he said the painting was slightly skinned I was thinking the exact same thing when he started cleaning the white of the shirt. It is simple amazing how much can be learned by just watching a good narrator and someone who takes the time to genuinely explain clearly what is being discussed.
@@Frank-Thoresen It's as if a crime has been committed. Vandalism of art. Oh I know it's not intentional vandalism. Whomever did it thought they were doing their best I am sure but come on, they had to know that it should have been fixed and asked for help if it was beyond their scope of knowledge. Thank goodness Julian studied so hard and learned well from his dad and others what not to do and what can be done to rectify problems. Thank goodness he knows that if he needs help with something there are others who have the experience needed to help solve a problem. If I ever had a painting that needed fixing I would be going to him for help. I love his ethics to do no harm and only do what needs to be done within reason and no more.
@@Frank-Thoresenand now I know how to fix mine! I skinned several when I first started out by cleaning them too early after I varnished them. You have to use cornstarch dusted over it to absorb the silicone you put in my type of paintings and if you do that too soon then you get a skinned painting 😢 I actually ruined my favorite one that way
I absolutely positively love that you keep in the times your had to reboot mid sentence really reminds me I'm not watching the regular videos like this on RUclips I'm actually watching someone work and carry out a day to day occupation kinda like watching a very interesting NPC. or maybe I am the NPC and you are the main character at this point what your doing always seems more interesting than what I'm doing 😅😅
@@teresawelter7530 TRUE I love how every new episode feels like Julian is the master conservator and your a young apprentice who isn't yet allowed to touch yet but that's OK cause your only at the part where you learn what good work looks like
I remember in one of his old videos a bunch were left in and he admitted it was an error by his editor. However, a lot of the commenters seemed to really like it, so I now wonder if they leave one in for each video just as a lil' easter egg
Why do you feel the need to compare any conscious, living creature with an NPC? do you really have so little faith in people that anytime they do anything that comes naturally, and therefore commonly. That makes them lesser? I'd say what makes someone an NPC is if they're a major pushover and unable to make decisions for himself, something that is clearly shown to be the opposite in nearly all Baumgartner employees that have been shown so far. There are no main characters, there are no npcs, there are simply regular people living complex internal lives that you can't analyze wholly by watching them go about their paid labor. What a revealing comparison... same with yourself, you're not an npc simply because you do things deemed "less interesting" I don't understand why it would even be a comparison to make unless you were attempting to make a joke, but in that case, I can't see the potential punchline.
it was so relaxing to see a much simpler restoration than one with things like tile adhesive or polyurethane. those are interesting, but this was just calm and simple
Your calming peaceful voice is similar to Bob Ross and Mr Rogers. There was a study done about calming sounds and Mr Rogers was part of the study. I think your voice has the same element. I could listen all day. Thank you for bringing peace to my bipolar world.
Great video. The Gardner Museum in Boston has both a great masterpiece and a student copy of it: Titian's The Rape of Europa and a student copy by a young Peter Paul Rubens.
That smile on julien’s face when he discovered the artist’s signature was absolutely priceless. You can always tell in moments like that when someone really loves their work ☺️
I am looking at a painting in our house right now. I've never cared for it because it's so "dark". Watching Julian makes me realize that it's probably due to my 50 years of my dad's cigarette smoke, along with half a century of dust and dirt.
I never cared or thought too much about the importance of photo restoration until I found your channel and watched your work. It is a talent I never knew I wanted to know as much as I do when I watch your videos!
@@filmpjesman1 I got that disease when I was 6 or so, I used to do my best to not shit in the toilet but somewhere else like on the carpet, between the cellar-stuff, like a dog searching for the best place to poop.
I was in the middle of editing the illustrations for my new book on Scottish architecture and thinking that a cup of tea was in order when the notification bell rang. So I immediately downed photographs, spreadsheets and text for a restful and informative interlude in the midst of an otherwise tedious, although essential, task. Thanks as always.
Cleaning the dirt and old varnish off a painting reminds me of the first time I cleaned my windows after a couple of chain smokers I was renting to moved out. You could visibly see the difference between the cleaned and uncleaned sections.
I'm curious as to why Julian didn't put a barrier layer of varnish between the original paint and his retouching like he does in many of the other videos. Maybe because the retouching was so minimal.
You know, I was wondering the same thing. I even went back a bit to listen again - maybe I missed him saying it was done? I wonder if he did put it on but it was edited out for this video on YT? 🤔🤷
He doesn't always do that. He's said before that isolating the original paint from the retouching is only one reason he might do an isolation layer, and because his paints are completely reversible it's not technically necessary to separate them. My guess is that he decided adding a barrier would be excessive on this painting, since the og paint isn't unstable and there was so little retouching
I wonder if he didn't do it because the painting was skinned. I'm sure it's much easier to retouch skinning when doing it on the actual texture of the canvas versus an isolation layer which might not allow the retouching paints to sink into those microscopic holes. This is just a theory so let me know if you think differently for some reason
That's a good catch. He usually puts one layer on before retouching because the true colours are visible after a layer of varnish and the retouching might not be as accurate, as he's mentioned before. Hoping that someone on Patreon asks him about this
Since watching you're amazing videos I have become less afraid in investing in paintings I love but are so dark that it is hard to see any details. As an amateur collector I had always assumed there was not much more in paintings other than what the eye can see. My interest in restorations started with my daughters internship in Italy restoring ancient relics. You are so amazing with your work! Thank you for sharing!
When I need to listen to something soothing & calming,..(I have anxiety/panic disorder, & sleep issues) ..I find just Listening, to Julian's videos....w/that Soft, Soothing, Calming voice...helps me to relax better than those "Listen to my voice while I talk u to sleep", "hypnotic" type videos! I find myself very relaxed, and.....yes, sometimes....asleep. If so, then I go back & rewatch it later. I very often find myself listening to a playlist of Baumgartner Restoration videos....I find them far more relaxing, more soothing!
I never miss these, and I love everything that Julian does, and I especially love his insightful and deft commentary, but just once I want him to say "the previous conservator was brilliant."
*Thank you Julian* for keeping the [intro] because regardless of how advanced technology becomes, and no matter how far a robot is upgraded, it'll never have the delicate dexterity human hands have to turn into any tool. Your intro shows everyone how amazing the human hands can be, and no A.I. will ever possess such an incredible tool connected with our training, reasoning, creativity, feelings, and essence to turn the hand into the most amazing tool ever designed.
there is indeed a certain soul within the works of humans as opposed to a.i. that i too believe that no matter how much they advance will ever be able to replicate cheers
One thing I would really love to hear is an estimated time that the last restoration/conservation took place (if possible). To have an idea of time scales involved in the degradation of previous work done would be really interesting!
😭 when you get the notification and you don't have time to watch! My boss is not going to understand "Sorry I'm late, I was watching Julian restore a painting."
I was watching this short video of the Carnegie Museum of Art restoring a painting and I was like, "I know what she's doing! She's putting on an isolation layer!"
Have you ever wondered if some of the lined paintings you get are that way because someone cut it out of its frame when steeling it? Have you ever received a painting that you then learned it was actually stolen and never recovered either when in your possession or after it left your studio?
Interesting point, I'd wondered if the "signature" on the back was cut short in part due to "resizing" it at some point, either to make it fit a space (happened to The Night Watch by Rembrandt, the city council wanted it to fit between two doors) or maybe to adjust the composition (Julian has worked on a Salome and John the Baptist painting that had been cut into 2 pieces).
Just a couple of random questions please Julian. 1. Do you have to have the owner’s permission before you can make a video of a project? 2. How much of your work is strictly cleaning/minor retouch as opposed to major damage (tears, missing canvas)? Watching you work is just amazing because of what is revealed and just what can be repaired. Just amazing! 3. Could you please share what piano music you use when you “take a break” on long projects for us? 4. Could you do many more videos of cleaning with piano? Not such a production for you but restful and uplifting for me!
Gorgeous work, as usual, Julian. Thanks for sharing this lovely painting and your expertise. What a change and glad you didn't have a fight on your hands.
I love watching the more complicated restorations because I'm always curious how the can be fixed. I also love the simplicity of an "easy" restoration like this.
I love how you used Spencerian script as the font for the title. I've spent a few years learning it, though I don't do calligraphy as much anymore, my regular penmanship is a casual Spencerian
Plaque in museum five thousand years from now. "This material is canvas, a highly prized commodity among the primitives, often displayed on walls as a sign of affluence. This example is discolored with an unknown substance, but the preservative layer has been masterfully applied using a now lost technology"
Before and after photo are so different. You did a “spot on” job, Julian. When you say this is a copy by the painter who also did G. Washington, were you referring to the portrait that appeared incomplete and hung in a lot of school rooms? Interesting backstory. I know portraits were the only means of imaging the past. Silhouettes were popular too.
The camera work in this video is stellar. Wonderful natural lighting with dramatic shadows, a brush in focus over a close and intimate look of the canvas. It all works together to create a wonderful stylistic composition that is inviting, warm, and close to the journey of the work on display. love the vids
The fact that there are people like you who do so much to preserve these works makes me so happy!! Your work is always outstanding!!! If I could afford to I'd get you to do my grandmother's painting. I would never attempt to do it myself!!! Thank you for everything you do and for sharing it!!
It's been a while since I've been suggested one of your videos by the algorithm. I' glad it did. Beautiful work. Even removing the grime and varnish alone was a game changer.
The original Gilbert Stuart of Joseph Anthony, Jr., is at the Met, so it’s easy to look it up and make the comparison. It’s a rather free copy. It does make me want to know more about the copyist, who may have worked on an easel in the museum gallery, as you can see copyists working theses days - at least when Covid hasn’t closed the museums. This is another lovely video to enjoy in hard times.
I too looked for an image of the original Gilbert Stuart. Our artist only copied the head. There was more jacket in the original and a more elaborate setting. And I wonder if the painting had darkened a bit before it was copied, and then was cleaned before the image I saw online was made. Because our version is still darker than the original.
Your videos are fantastic, I never thought that a subject like this could be vaguely interesting, but I have watched hours of your work - Your patience is amazing, thank you for taking the time to upload these videos, absolutely fascinating!
I'm glad you are explaining the varnish removal and cleaning process again, because there are a lot of people out there bad mouthing you for not testing and going straight in on the face, even though your fans know this isn't true and that you take great care with each picture you work on.
As a composer and jazz musician, I can attest to the method of learning that has you imitate historic models as a step in developing your own voice. A composition teacher of mine used to say "Imitation, assimilation, innovation, in that order, or you'll never reach where you're trying to go."
So wonderful to wake up this morning to see a new video by my RUclips friend Julian. Love watching the magic happen & listening to Julian's voice. If he ever had to stop doing restorations, he could become a narrator for anything. Soothing, calm! Love watching!
You inspire me as an artist, you help me see that even if i make something i dont think is the greatest, someone might just love it enough that it becomes valuable in a way i never thought. 😊❤🧡💛💚💙💜
Wow. Just wow. Every time I watch one of your videos I can't help but be amazed at the transition from dull and dying to vibrant and full of life! Beautiful!
It's always satisfying when the painting starts out looking like it used to be hung in a coal mine, and watching it be revealed from under the murky gunk.
Thank you Julian. I have been struggling to get some rest lately... I just watched two back to back videos and I am dozing on and off. FINALLY... I finally can go to sleep. Your voice is so calming and relaxing. Thank you so very much for having such a calm, relaxing, and gentle voice
crazy how this profession has evolved so much and so many chemicals and techniques have changed throughout the years. very crazy to think what they did back then is not recommended now. makes you wonder what common practices we do now that may seem idiotic to future generations lol.
I may be only a recent subscriber but I absolutely adore the poetry of intent expressed with the restoration/rebirth of these pieces of artists' souls. I often feel that some past conservators would weep if they could see the damage their best intentions had caused. The tools we now posses and the practically medicinal aspect of conservation, "first do no harm", are things that they would have embraced wholeheartedly. Then there is the, "It's too big to fit over my mantle - just lop a foot off the bottom", attitude to art - where art served a specific purpose or it was discarded. Time has given it a value beyond the practical application as an insight into human cognition. Our reverence of history is so disjointed from the practicalities of the time, and so valuable because of the juxtaposition. The pure enjoyment of watching beauty unveil itself in your vids is something that can be relished even without any 'deep meaning' or 'insight'.
Whenever he mentions seeing painting as the artist intended, I can't help to wonder are we really seeing the true glory of these paintings? I mean, even though Julian removed all the dirt and grime and old varnish, colors still naturally change and shift, all the small cracks and loss also add to the overall change of tone in color (color gets more muted, less saturated and less vibrant...). I don't think we can actually see the full glory of how any of this old paintings looked like, only the closest possible version of it. Would be interesting to see the real difference of some old photographed (in color) painting and its cleaned today's version. There was really good color photography even 100 years ago, so there might be some paintings that were photographed back then.
Even the best conservator can't rewind time. Fruit starts to rot as soon as it's ripe. A car depreciates in value the moment you drive it off the lot. A baby starts aging as soon as it's born. Artists know this just as well as the rest of us. I'm sure none of them expect their art to look like it did when it was freshly painted in perpetuity. "As the artist intended" I interpret to mean "Aged as beautifully as possible."
@Billy White Jr. True, true... but I believe photos could be adjusted close enough to reality as there's multiples of different subjects, taken with same camera 'settings', so reference points for white balance and saturation could be determined pretty close to reality. Maybe the color tones wouldn't transfer so well through photos, but just the lack of cracking and different vibrance could already show much different painting from what it is today. Interesting to think about it. If anything, 100 years from now we will be able to do this comparison much more accurately, therefore also look back even further and determine the real artist's vision even more closely.
@@DivinePonies meanwhile I'm thinking of all the issues with digital around "product colors may not appear in person the same as on your screen" and all my baby pictures from the 80s that look 100 times worse that 100 old varnish as every color but red has faded to nothing.
@@DivinePonies hi, film photographer here. The colors of different film stock and chemical compositions aren’t a true assessment of reality - this is a desirable trait on occasion but not to constitute an image of something that must be as realistic as possible! Now with digital cameras maybe that’s a different story - we will never know how pictures actually looked like back then. I’ve tried editing an uncleaned painting and to account for the yellowing varnish, but it’s probably not remotely close.
I have admired your work for some years I have been following you, I am a pictorial artist and for professional reasons I also dedicate myself to the restoration of sculpture and it has become a great passion for me as well as painting, I learn a lot from your videos, greetings from Costa Rica.
Thank You Very Much Julian..... So much fun. I am walking on air again & again each time I rewind & re-watch the certain spots you alone know I am re-watching, ha. ..... ...TM
Julian, just curious, when you were dealing with that monster known as a polyurethane coated painting and had to scrape BOTH sides of the canvas, someone from the UK suggested using liquid nitrogen to freeze it and then scrape it off. Have you been able to find equipment to do that? Or you still haven't received any orders to clean paintings like that yet?
That was a really dark painting to start with, so glad it looked fantastic after your renovation. As soon as I saw the skinning I knew you would be seeing spots before your eyes when retouching. Good job, well restored.
seeing a simple project again is a nice change of pace, not that I don't love the complex pieces because I really really do but these are just really relaxing to watch I also really liked this video from a production standpoint, how you've started adding in more details about the history and context of the paintings is really interesting (its also interesting in the context of this painting because knowing it comes from a student it explains why the forehead and the cheeks almost look like two different painting and two completely different palletes, he was still learning I just looked up the original and you can definitely see the areas where he struggled to get that same realism into the portrait its still really interesting to see the learning process) one thing I really liked is the video cuts, the sped up video is nice for when it comes to cleaning or retouching a painting, but there's also something really satisfying about the brief shots in normal speed of taping down the hot table, tacking a side of the painting, folding a corner in, idk why but I really like that little detail, maybe its something to do with the mix of confidence/competent/efficient care that you give to the paintings
Julian: "Because someone didn't do a great job, it makes my job much easier."
Previous conservator: [laughs in polyurethane and tile adhesive]
Amateur. Should’ve used epoxy.
@@TheVectorious and staples!
Ugh, both of you disgust me.
Nice.
don’t forget the fact that he also cut off the strings on the tear and overpainted basically the entire background
see also: rabbit-skin & elmer’s glue, natural resin varnish, staples, white lead paint, freaking cement adhesive, and of course, a healthy serving of copiously layered filling medium and overpainting
There's something really tickling about the painter signing their name on the back and making the same mistake so many of us make when writing on a large canvas. Starting in the middle, with large confident letters, and ending on the edge of the canvas with the letters thin and touching. Leaving us with our folly. 😂
This is so accurate it's painful 😭
Definitive proof that people were still human no matter how many centuries have passed since their existence. It's easy to think that someone from hundreds of years ago was some great artist, or innovative scientist... we don't often think of those same people getting too overzealous when writing "Happy Birthday" on an ill-folded piece of paper 😅
I do that all the time when I write an address on an envelope 😂😂
Like on greeting cards nowadays
i hide my name in the paintings. So well even i can't find it sometimes when i look a few years later.
So happy for you Julian. That peel-off lining canvas was a well-deserved breeze after the tile grout fiasco. 😁
Well deserved indeed 😀
Lol, that was my first thought as well
That one, and I think he has a contact cement one not terribly long ago too.
I didn't see the time grout one, what one was that?
The tile glue was hilarious though haha
4:44 - You must love Julian's expression change as he finds the inscription, like unwrapping a present, to giggling and whopping an "ALL RIGHT !!" with pure joy !
When I saw that, I knew that that signature was going to be visible When Julian was finished. No way he was going to cover up that important a piece of provenance.
Honestly, with how the signature is cut off at the end, I have to wonder if the tacking edges weren't cut off along with "resizing" the painting to make it fit another frame or space!
It was like watching a child open their favorite present on Christmas morning.
i loved this part so much, when he said ALRIGHT! i cackled. hell yeah julian!
I know that there are fellow weirdos out there who will understand me when I say that watching Julian clean a painting is one of my favourite things to watch!
Apparently, there are exactly 1.63M weirdos.
Yes
It's one of the only exceptions where someone's discovering an artefact while already possessing the artefact.
The music is awesome too!
I find watching his vids helps to calm my anxiety. It works like ASMR. His voice is delightfully soothing.
No one tell Julian that he sometimes leaves in the audio of him starting over on a part/correcting himself it’s so wholesome to me
6:10 - Hey Julian! Whilst you were smelling that paintbrush, did you notice a weird fishy smell? If you did, that's what pure nicotine smells like! It's an amine and therefore has a weird fishy smell. I always wondered why some vapes had that weird smell about them. Now we both know!
I think most of the smell on that paintbrush was from the tar. The long-chained, poly-cyclic carbon compounds formed through incomplete combustion. Because those compounds are so big, they have significant van der waals forces and like to stick to surfaces. Over time, the slightly shorter chained, less cyclic compounds evaporate off because they're slightly more volatile and the stickier larger molecules build up on the surface forming that icky sticky dark coloured layer on the paintings surface.
That's also why the painting didn't smell *too* too bad until you started to clean it. Those slightly volatile compounds that slowly evaporate are what you smell at first. But when you agitate the surface grime, and mix it with solvent, you're aerosolizing those compounds that have built up on the surface, and some co-evaporate with the solvent. So in effect you get the smell of decades worth of smoke exposure, in a few seconds. Eeew.
Also, nicotine on it's own can be detrimental to paintings too. It's oily and absorbs water. It also breaks down on exposure to oxygen and UV to make substances like methylamine which cause further damage by being reactive.
thats weirdly specific knowledge I just learned... thank you i guess
That's awesome, that also explains why his face looked like he regrets everything that he has done to get to that point.
Fascinating info, thank you for sharing!
Wow, interesting! Thanks for the info!
You can use tar to turn Superman evil so there's that.
It feels like the paintings give a sigh of relief whenever he cleans them, touches them up, and making them look almost new again. It's like getting home from a long day at school or work and taking a shower and getting into cool comfy clothes and just resting
Imagine they could talk like in Harry Potter
I know this step is generally skipped to keep the videos engaging, but I'd love to see the solvent testing portion of the cleaning process at some point. It just seems really interesting.
Just as Julian talks about poetry during the cleaning process his voice makes poetry in narration. Even before he said the painting was slightly skinned I was thinking the exact same thing when he started cleaning the white of the shirt. It is simple amazing how much can be learned by just watching a good narrator and someone who takes the time to genuinely explain clearly what is being discussed.
Well said, I agree
I agree. I saw it too quite early. It saddens me to see a skinned painting. It feels so brutal
@@Frank-Thoresen It's as if a crime has been committed. Vandalism of art. Oh I know it's not intentional vandalism. Whomever did it thought they were doing their best I am sure but come on, they had to know that it should have been fixed and asked for help if it was beyond their scope of knowledge. Thank goodness Julian studied so hard and learned well from his dad and others what not to do and what can be done to rectify problems. Thank goodness he knows that if he needs help with something there are others who have the experience needed to help solve a problem. If I ever had a painting that needed fixing I would be going to him for help. I love his ethics to do no harm and only do what needs to be done within reason and no more.
@@Frank-Thoresenand now I know how to fix mine! I skinned several when I first started out by cleaning them too early after I varnished them. You have to use cornstarch dusted over it to absorb the silicone you put in my type of paintings and if you do that too soon then you get a skinned painting 😢 I actually ruined my favorite one that way
“I supposed I should tip my hat to the previous conservator for …phoning it in!”- this level of smart savagery will never fail to make me chuckle 😂😂😂
Someone named Dark, 9 posts above this one, posted the exact same thing, even the crying laughing faces.
@@SupposedlyFree yeah Dark pretty much steals comments on every video i watch. sad
I absolutely positively love that you keep in the times your had to reboot mid sentence really reminds me I'm not watching the regular videos like this on RUclips I'm actually watching someone work and carry out a day to day occupation kinda like watching a very interesting NPC. or maybe I am the NPC and you are the main character at this point what your doing always seems more interesting than what I'm doing 😅😅
Yessss, I love this so much! He is so confident in his authenticity...very inspiring to an anxious and timid old me ❤
@@teresawelter7530 TRUE I love how every new episode feels like Julian is the master conservator and your a young apprentice who isn't yet allowed to touch yet but that's OK cause your only at the part where you learn what good work looks like
I remember in one of his old videos a bunch were left in and he admitted it was an error by his editor. However, a lot of the commenters seemed to really like it, so I now wonder if they leave one in for each video just as a lil' easter egg
Why do you feel the need to compare any conscious, living creature with an NPC? do you really have so little faith in people that anytime they do anything that comes naturally, and therefore commonly. That makes them lesser? I'd say what makes someone an NPC is if they're a major pushover and unable to make decisions for himself, something that is clearly shown to be the opposite in nearly all Baumgartner employees that have been shown so far. There are no main characters, there are no npcs, there are simply regular people living complex internal lives that you can't analyze wholly by watching them go about their paid labor. What a revealing comparison... same with yourself, you're not an npc simply because you do things deemed "less interesting" I don't understand why it would even be a comparison to make unless you were attempting to make a joke, but in that case, I can't see the potential punchline.
it was so relaxing to see a much simpler restoration than one with things like tile adhesive or polyurethane. those are interesting, but this was just calm and simple
Yes. Nice to cleanse one’s palate every once in a while…
Julian probably thought the same thing.
I'll never get tired of watching yellowed varnish be removed to show such beautiful brilliant colors
Yes,I don’t understand people who want to keep the yellowed mess for the “character”. Enjoy the painting! 💕🐝🇺🇸☃️
Your calming peaceful voice is similar to Bob Ross and Mr Rogers. There was a study done about calming sounds and Mr Rogers was part of the study. I think your voice has the same element. I could listen all day. Thank you for bringing peace to my bipolar world.
I think it's funny how this artist could be so dainty and delicate with the actual painting, but his signature on the back is a massive messy scrawl.
Great video. The Gardner Museum in Boston has both a great masterpiece and a student copy of it: Titian's The Rape of Europa and a student copy by a young Peter Paul Rubens.
That smile on julien’s face when he discovered the artist’s signature was absolutely priceless. You can always tell in moments like that when someone really loves their work ☺️
I am looking at a painting in our house right now. I've never cared for it because it's so "dark". Watching Julian makes me realize that it's probably due to my 50 years of my dad's cigarette smoke, along with half a century of dust and dirt.
How much did it cost you to conservative this painting??
I never cared or thought too much about the importance of photo restoration until I found your channel and watched your work. It is a talent I never knew I wanted to know as much as I do when I watch your videos!
With people like you or my mechanics on RUclips, we, the viewers, are like content junkies waiting for our fix!
Can you imagine being a content junkie for Sam O'Nella and realising you have to get clean
@@filmpjesman1 I got that disease when I was 6 or so, I used to do my best to not shit in the toilet but somewhere else like on the carpet, between the cellar-stuff, like a dog searching for the best place to poop.
@@filmpjesman1 does Sam onella still make videos? Haven’t followed him in a while.
im waiting for the moment, julian says "i make a new one" for a painting with a lot of damage xD
@@noobfl Hahaha XD
I never cease to feel a thrill of delight when I see the varnish applied. It is as if the soul has returned to the painting.
I was in the middle of editing the illustrations for my new book on Scottish architecture and thinking that a cup of tea was in order when the notification bell rang. So I immediately downed photographs, spreadsheets and text for a restful and informative interlude in the midst of an otherwise tedious, although essential, task. Thanks as always.
I must nerd-ily admit that a Scottish architecture book sounds wonderful! 💕🐝🇺🇸☃️
@@amazinggrace5692 I second that.
Your new book sounds interesting.
Cleaning the dirt and old varnish off a painting reminds me of the first time I cleaned my windows after a couple of chain smokers I was renting to moved out. You could visibly see the difference between the cleaned and uncleaned sections.
I'm curious as to why Julian didn't put a barrier layer of varnish between the original paint and his retouching like he does in many of the other videos. Maybe because the retouching was so minimal.
You know, I was wondering the same thing. I even went back a bit to listen again - maybe I missed him saying it was done? I wonder if he did put it on but it was edited out for this video on YT? 🤔🤷
He doesn't always do that. He's said before that isolating the original paint from the retouching is only one reason he might do an isolation layer, and because his paints are completely reversible it's not technically necessary to separate them. My guess is that he decided adding a barrier would be excessive on this painting, since the og paint isn't unstable and there was so little retouching
I wonder if he didn't do it because the painting was skinned. I'm sure it's much easier to retouch skinning when doing it on the actual texture of the canvas versus an isolation layer which might not allow the retouching paints to sink into those microscopic holes. This is just a theory so let me know if you think differently for some reason
Came to comments to learn why not, too.
That's a good catch. He usually puts one layer on before retouching because the true colours are visible after a layer of varnish and the retouching might not be as accurate, as he's mentioned before. Hoping that someone on Patreon asks him about this
I kinda like how he never edits out the narration mistake and repeats 😁 , nobody is perfect
Since watching you're amazing videos I have become less afraid in investing in paintings I love but are so dark that it is hard to see any details. As an amateur collector I had always assumed there was not much more in paintings other than what the eye can see. My interest in restorations started with my daughters internship in Italy restoring ancient relics. You are so amazing with your work! Thank you for sharing!
You should make compilation of before and after of all the works you have done. It is so satisfying to watch it.
he cut the painting from the support like thieves in heist movies, the madlad
When I need to listen to something soothing & calming,..(I have anxiety/panic disorder, & sleep issues)
..I find just Listening, to Julian's videos....w/that Soft, Soothing, Calming voice...helps me to relax better than those "Listen to my voice while I talk u to sleep", "hypnotic" type videos!
I find myself very relaxed, and.....yes, sometimes....asleep. If so, then I go back & rewatch it later.
I very often find myself listening to a playlist of Baumgartner Restoration videos....I find them far more relaxing, more soothing!
You might want to try Mr. Phoenix ASMR…
I can't wait to see the dark varnish come off! It was great how thrilled you were to see the name unveiled on the back. Such genuine joy and delight.
Ah, my two favorite things on this channel: heavily discolored varnish and grime. The clean-up is always so satisfying.
I never miss these, and I love everything that Julian does, and I especially love his insightful and deft commentary, but just once I want him to say "the previous conservator was brilliant."
If they were it wouldn't end up in his shop.
*Thank you Julian* for keeping the [intro] because regardless of how advanced technology becomes, and no matter how far a robot is upgraded, it'll never have the delicate dexterity human hands have to turn into any tool. Your intro shows everyone how amazing the human hands can be, and no A.I. will ever possess such an incredible tool connected with our training, reasoning, creativity, feelings, and essence to turn the hand into the most amazing tool ever designed.
there is indeed a certain soul within the works of humans as opposed to a.i. that i too believe that no matter how much they advance will ever be able to replicate
cheers
@@useruser0000 I conquer 👌🏼
One thing I would really love to hear is an estimated time that the last restoration/conservation took place (if possible).
To have an idea of time scales involved in the degradation of previous work done would be really interesting!
I'm so proud of myself that I recognised this painting had been abraded straight away, you've taught me so much
Lol same, and I even said "Yes, Julian, you're right, I can see that too" aloud like a dork %)
Omg🧐 Suddenly you can even see the beard shadow of the portrait Sitter ... Fantastic!
😭 when you get the notification and you don't have time to watch! My boss is not going to understand "Sorry I'm late, I was watching Julian restore a painting."
Because your restoration work is second to none,
a Gentleman was Revealed, truly!! Stunning talent
& how very gifted you are.
I was watching this short video of the Carnegie Museum of Art restoring a painting and I was like, "I know what she's doing! She's putting on an isolation layer!"
I love that moment when the final coat of varnish goes on. The painting bursts forth in all its intended glory!
Have you ever wondered if some of the lined paintings you get are that way because someone cut it out of its frame when steeling it? Have you ever received a painting that you then learned it was actually stolen and never recovered either when in your possession or after it left your studio?
Interesting point, I'd wondered if the "signature" on the back was cut short in part due to "resizing" it at some point, either to make it fit a space (happened to The Night Watch by Rembrandt, the city council wanted it to fit between two doors) or maybe to adjust the composition (Julian has worked on a Salome and John the Baptist painting that had been cut into 2 pieces).
Just a couple of random questions please Julian. 1. Do you have to have the owner’s permission before you can make a video of a project? 2. How much of your work is strictly cleaning/minor retouch as opposed to major damage (tears, missing canvas)? Watching you work is just amazing because of what is revealed and just what can be repaired. Just amazing! 3. Could you please share what piano music you use when you “take a break” on long projects for us? 4. Could you do many more videos of cleaning with piano? Not such a production for you but restful and uplifting for me!
Gorgeous work, as usual, Julian. Thanks for sharing this lovely painting and your expertise. What a change and glad you didn't have a fight on your hands.
I always enjoy seeing the true colours be revealed when the yellowed varnish is removed!!!
I love watching the more complicated restorations because I'm always curious how the can be fixed. I also love the simplicity of an "easy" restoration like this.
I love how you used Spencerian script as the font for the title. I've spent a few years learning it, though I don't do calligraphy as much anymore, my regular penmanship is a casual Spencerian
Plaque in museum five thousand years from now. "This material is canvas, a highly prized commodity among the primitives, often displayed on walls as a sign of affluence. This example is discolored with an unknown substance, but the preservative layer has been masterfully applied using a now lost technology"
I always read the comments first to see how astute the fellowship is.
Absolutely loved this! My siblings are cousins of Gilbert Stewart so I love finding videos like this because I feel a littler closer to them!
The King returns to youtube with a great video to wind down and learn from. Much love, Julian.
The colors went from potatoe to shiny white... impressive job. I knew smoke was bad for paintings but never saw that amount before 😅.
Julian, I was having an anxiety attack when I opened youtube and was so quickly relieved when I started this video! Thank you!
Before and after photo are so different. You did a “spot on” job, Julian. When you say this is a copy by the painter who also did G. Washington, were you referring to the portrait that appeared incomplete and hung in a lot of school rooms? Interesting backstory. I know portraits were the only means of imaging the past. Silhouettes were popular too.
The camera work in this video is stellar. Wonderful natural lighting with dramatic shadows, a brush in focus over a close and intimate look of the canvas. It all works together to create a wonderful stylistic composition that is inviting, warm, and close to the journey of the work on display. love the vids
The fact that there are people like you who do so much to preserve these works makes me so happy!! Your work is always outstanding!!! If I could afford to I'd get you to do my grandmother's painting. I would never attempt to do it myself!!! Thank you for everything you do and for sharing it!!
His voice is so delightful!!!!
I would love to hear audiobooks from him.
And once again, marvelous work
It's been a while since I've been suggested one of your videos by the algorithm. I' glad it did. Beautiful work. Even removing the grime and varnish alone was a game changer.
The original Gilbert Stuart of Joseph Anthony, Jr., is at the Met, so it’s easy to look it up and make the comparison. It’s a rather free copy. It does make me want to know more about the copyist, who may have worked on an easel in the museum gallery, as you can see copyists working theses days - at least when Covid hasn’t closed the museums. This is another lovely video to enjoy in hard times.
I too looked for an image of the original Gilbert Stuart. Our artist only copied the head. There was more jacket in the original and a more elaborate setting. And I wonder if the painting had darkened a bit before it was copied, and then was cleaned before the image I saw online was made. Because our version is still darker than the original.
@@peggyjacobs3620 very good point about darkening and the length. There are several other differences. It’s a good exercise in looking.
Now you can really see the personality of the gentleman... a pleasure to look at. Thanks, Julian!
Never really thought of Jon Lovitz as a gentleman.
Every time a new painting it is like Christmas morning opening a gift, amazing in all ways.
Your videos are fantastic, I never thought that a subject like this could be vaguely interesting, but I have watched hours of your work - Your patience is amazing, thank you for taking the time to upload these videos, absolutely fascinating!
I'm glad you are explaining the varnish removal and cleaning process again, because there are a lot of people out there bad mouthing you for not testing and going straight in on the face, even though your fans know this isn't true and that you take great care with each picture you work on.
As a composer and jazz musician, I can attest to the method of learning that has you imitate historic models as a step in developing your own voice. A composition teacher of mine used to say "Imitation, assimilation, innovation, in that order, or you'll never reach where you're trying to go."
Oh it's that time already...half an hour of relaxation and quiet revelation...pure joy...
So wonderful to wake up this morning to see a new video by my RUclips friend Julian. Love watching the magic happen & listening to Julian's voice. If he ever had to stop doing restorations, he could become a narrator for anything. Soothing, calm! Love watching!
Wonderful job, as always! It’s nice that you had a pleasant painting to do this week. I got all your references to past videos!
You inspire me as an artist, you help me see that even if i make something i dont think is the greatest, someone might just love it enough that it becomes valuable in a way i never thought. 😊❤🧡💛💚💙💜
Man, that is a fantastic work. I don't know why but I find art restoring extremely relaxing and pleasant.
Wow, you weren’t kidding about that final layer of varnish making everything pop. It looks so good at the end! Another fantastic job Julien!
Wow. Just wow. Every time I watch one of your videos I can't help but be amazed at the transition from dull and dying to vibrant and full of life! Beautiful!
Love that cocky little brush twirl at the end after he finished the varnish. Truly a master at work. ☺
It's always satisfying when the painting starts out looking like it used to be hung in a coal mine, and watching it be revealed from under the murky gunk.
Thank you Julian. I have been struggling to get some rest lately... I just watched two back to back videos and I am dozing on and off. FINALLY... I finally can go to sleep. Your voice is so calming and relaxing. Thank you so very much for having such a calm, relaxing, and gentle voice
crazy how this profession has evolved so much and so many chemicals and techniques have changed throughout the years. very crazy to think what they did back then is not recommended now. makes you wonder what common practices we do now that may seem idiotic to future generations lol.
I may be only a recent subscriber but I absolutely adore the poetry of intent expressed with the restoration/rebirth of these pieces of artists' souls.
I often feel that some past conservators would weep if they could see the damage their best intentions had caused. The tools we now posses and the practically medicinal aspect of conservation, "first do no harm", are things that they would have embraced wholeheartedly.
Then there is the, "It's too big to fit over my mantle - just lop a foot off the bottom", attitude to art - where art served a specific purpose or it was discarded. Time has given it a value beyond the practical application as an insight into human cognition.
Our reverence of history is so disjointed from the practicalities of the time, and so valuable because of the juxtaposition.
The pure enjoyment of watching beauty unveil itself in your vids is something that can be relished even without any 'deep meaning' or 'insight'.
Big ups to James G. for doing a great job painting this and Julian for restoring it to it's majestic form.
Why do I never tire of seeing you bring paintings back to life? Its......magical. Thanks for sharing.
Whenever he mentions seeing painting as the artist intended, I can't help to wonder are we really seeing the true glory of these paintings? I mean, even though Julian removed all the dirt and grime and old varnish, colors still naturally change and shift, all the small cracks and loss also add to the overall change of tone in color (color gets more muted, less saturated and less vibrant...). I don't think we can actually see the full glory of how any of this old paintings looked like, only the closest possible version of it.
Would be interesting to see the real difference of some old photographed (in color) painting and its cleaned today's version. There was really good color photography even 100 years ago, so there might be some paintings that were photographed back then.
Even the best conservator can't rewind time. Fruit starts to rot as soon as it's ripe. A car depreciates in value the moment you drive it off the lot. A baby starts aging as soon as it's born. Artists know this just as well as the rest of us. I'm sure none of them expect their art to look like it did when it was freshly painted in perpetuity. "As the artist intended" I interpret to mean "Aged as beautifully as possible."
@Billy White Jr. True, true... but I believe photos could be adjusted close enough to reality as there's multiples of different subjects, taken with same camera 'settings', so reference points for white balance and saturation could be determined pretty close to reality. Maybe the color tones wouldn't transfer so well through photos, but just the lack of cracking and different vibrance could already show much different painting from what it is today. Interesting to think about it.
If anything, 100 years from now we will be able to do this comparison much more accurately, therefore also look back even further and determine the real artist's vision even more closely.
@@DivinePonies meanwhile I'm thinking of all the issues with digital around "product colors may not appear in person the same as on your screen" and all my baby pictures from the 80s that look 100 times worse that 100 old varnish as every color but red has faded to nothing.
@@DivinePonies hi, film photographer here. The colors of different film stock and chemical compositions aren’t a true assessment of reality - this is a desirable trait on occasion but not to constitute an image of something that must be as realistic as possible! Now with digital cameras maybe that’s a different story - we will never know how pictures actually looked like back then. I’ve tried editing an uncleaned painting and to account for the yellowing varnish, but it’s probably not remotely close.
Without all that gunk and varnish it looks so soft
I have admired your work for some years I have been following you, I am a pictorial artist and for professional reasons I also dedicate myself to the restoration of sculpture and it has become a great passion for me as well as painting, I learn a lot from your videos, greetings from Costa Rica.
Thank You Very Much Julian..... So much fun. I am walking on air again & again each time I rewind & re-watch the certain spots you alone know I am re-watching, ha. ..... ...TM
The gel solvent on the face looks so satisfying. Looks like he is peeling instead of dissolving.
Gotta love how Julian effortlessly throws shade on whomever had worked on the artwork currently under his care. 😆
It's a GOOD day when I hear Julian's gentle soothing voice explaining a conservation while I watch 💖
Thank you!!! You are awesome.
Julian, you need to read audio books. Your voice is amazing, clear, wonderous for the ears.
Not only does he restore art, he made the guy in the portrait look 10 years younger!
I wonder if Julien has ever had a painting where it was either so new or so neglected that he was the first person to ever do conservation work on it.
Yes. He has been the first for some modern paintings.
Another impressive cleaning, retouching, all the conservation, just beautiful
4:43 his reaction makes me want to hide fun little easter eggs in lining layers of my paintings for future restorers to find. Thanks for the idea!
Julian, just curious, when you were dealing with that monster known as a polyurethane coated painting and had to scrape BOTH sides of the canvas, someone from the UK suggested using liquid nitrogen to freeze it and then scrape it off. Have you been able to find equipment to do that? Or you still haven't received any orders to clean paintings like that yet?
On the subject of copies, I always think back to Clark Terry's famous description of creative growth: Imitate, Assimilate, Innovate.
Lmao i kept reading "intimidate" and was so confused for a minute
sometimes just these simple ones are my favourite. just the difference is wild
Brilliant work, vibrant and the colours are stunning.
Beautiful work as always!
Love the point by point reasoning and detail.
That was a really dark painting to start with, so glad it looked fantastic after your renovation. As soon as I saw the skinning I knew you would be seeing spots before your eyes when retouching. Good job, well restored.
Really great to see him come back to life. Thanks much.
loved the vibe of this video
seeing a simple project again is a nice change of pace, not that I don't love the complex pieces because I really really do but these are just really relaxing to watch
I also really liked this video from a production standpoint, how you've started adding in more details about the history and context of the paintings is really interesting
(its also interesting in the context of this painting because knowing it comes from a student it explains why the forehead and the cheeks almost look like two different painting and two completely different palletes, he was still learning
I just looked up the original and you can definitely see the areas where he struggled to get that same realism into the portrait its still really interesting to see the learning process)
one thing I really liked is the video cuts, the sped up video is nice for when it comes to cleaning or retouching a painting, but there's also something really satisfying about the brief shots in normal speed of taping down the hot table, tacking a side of the painting, folding a corner in, idk why but I really like that little detail, maybe its something to do with the mix of confidence/competent/efficient care that you give to the paintings