Behind the Scenes: The Restoration of Isabella de' Medici

Go behind the scenes with CMOA chief conservator Ellen Baxter as she discusses the restoration process of a portrait of Isabella de' Medici.

Artwork:
Alessandro Allori
Portrait of Isabella de' Medici, c. 1570-1574
oil on canvas (transferred from panel)
Gift of Mrs. Paul B. Ernst

Filmed in conjunction with the exhibition "Faked, Forgotten, Found: Five Renaissance Paintings Investigated."

[wellesradio]

This restorer essentially removed the Instagram filter and gave us the real face.

[HollieTash]

The amount of comments that really show people paid no attention to the video at all. The before and after that show a younger ''prettier'' woman was the work of someone that wasn't the original painter and was done over a hundred years later. They painted over the original, the older woman, to make her face more suitable for the Victorian era. This woman did not 'ruin' or 'change' the original into the after photo for the hell of it, that was THE original before someone else tampered with it. Get off your high horses and take in information that is given to you before talking, thank you.
edit: 6 years later and youtube gives me my first notif for this, what happened here lmao

[iwavns]

The painter who painted over the original painting performed "plastic surgery" on Isabella de' Medici..😆

[Allie-nysp]

Isabella's portrait is consistent with 16th century beauty standards in Italy. She is shown with pale skin, prominent features, and a lot of rouge, as well as being richly garbed. Portraits were always supposed to be aesthetically pleasing, with is why the Victorians changed it in the 19th century, so it would fit in with their style of beauty. Unfortunately a good portion of Rennasaince portraits have been over-painted by the Victorians.

[LokiHiddlestone]

She's a genius. How crazy is that that you can remove the "fake" painted-on layer without damaging the original layer?!

[opterimuor]

When u have watched so many videos from : Baumgartner Restoration that you are understanding everything they are doing



Edit: omg 5 k i actually forgot i commented this
Edit2 : 6.7 k 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

[Ickerus]

What an honor it would be to have your painting taken care of so meticulously so long after you finished it.

[Jhfisibejosopkabrvois]

The Victorian version isn't even bad, and that's the shame of it. Whoever felt the need to "fix" the image back then clearly did have painting skills, and could've better utilized that talent by creating their *own* paintings instead of vandalizing preexisting ones.

I think it's a shame that people are automatically characterizing the younger version as "soulless, " "boring, " or "unrealistic." Because in reality, the Victorian version isn't unrealistic- it's just NOT Isabella. There are plenty of women who may genuinely look like that younger version, and there's nothing wrong with that!

Both versions are beautiful in their own right. The issue is the fact that one was the original, and one was vandalizing for the sake of vanity.

[sarahno]

For a sec I thought she painted a different face until I watched the video and realized that the older looking face was the original. Thank you for fixing it. Everyone looks different and we should never retroactively change people or things to be "better or prettier". If you change history to fit what you like, then you're making fiction.

[erzas]

watch the video and listen to her before going on saying that she ruined everything !
that painting was originally made in the renaissance era, hundred of years later the painting was painted over by ANOTHER artist to change the renaissance style into a "prettier" fake victorian style, all she did was take the fake layer off and restored the REAL original painting.
she did NOT ruin the painting, she restored it's true value, and if you like the fake one better, it's your own taste, but it's not the original, i guess you can say it's a little of an art-theft

[me-cqwv]

That lady is a genius. She must get a lot of satisfaction while working and discovering things in the painting while she works. Looks a very happy person in her work. I bet she is a joy to be around.

[theblasblas]

"And I realized if I continued to go farther with the inpainting, I would probably be adding myself to the painting. I'm not the artist, I'm the conservator, it's my job to repair damages and losses, to not put myself into the painting."

An amazing mindset, if only translators shared this mindset, global culture would be much better off.

[thatcoffeefeel]

Victorian one looks timid, original looks like a boss

[whatevergirl]

People who think that the “prettier” painted-over ver was better and that she just “ruined it”...Are the people that can’t take selfies without using full settings on snow app ..

[Isabella-cmwr]

"the painted over version was better bc she was prettier and nicer to look at" so? do all people in paintings have to be pretty? I'd be pissed if someone painted over my painting, specially a face, bc they thought it was ugly and needed to be fixed. It's not about making the prettiest woman, it's about conservating the original painter's work.

[gallagherwitt]

Wow, these comments are nuts. The restorer didn't change the original or try to "improve" it. She literally removed the overpainting that was added later, and restored it to what the original artist painted. So much r/confidentlyincorrect in these comments.

[nataliacarrillolinares]

I feel like I'm cheating on Julian

[quizyjest]

I love how the Restorer talks so tenderly and sweetly to the painting and while working. It really shows how much she enjoys and takes pride in her work.

[pollyflores]

“You have to talk to the painting, too, tell her she’s going to be lovely. And she is, she’s going to be lovely, ” this woman is the kind of person that inspired me to study art history, you can tell how much she loves the art she works with

[honeyLXIX]

When the restorer told the story of Isabella and said it was a bit of a bad ending, I thought to myself how it was sweet that this professional that cares so much about the painting's history got a chance to restore it.