Portrait of a young girl by Bartholomäus Sarburgh

When the owner of this portrait first showed us a photograph of it to enquire about having it cleaned, we were immediately very excited: it was clear that a painting of delightful quality was waiting to be uncovered from beneath the murky brown oxidised varnish layers.

The painting depicts a young girl holding a daffodil, and was painted by the 17th century German artist Bartholomäus Sarburgh. In the top left corner of the painting is an inscription on two lines: the first line reads ‘AET. 11.’ followed by ‘Ad. 1620’ on the second line. ‘AET’ is an abbreviation for the Latin ‘Aetatis’ meaning ‘age’ which tells us that the sitter was 11 years old. On the next line, ‘Ad’ is for Anno Domini, ‘in the year of our Lord’, which tells us that the portrait was painted in 1620. So this lovely little girl was 11 years old when she sat for her portrait in 1620.

On examination of the artwork at the studio, our initial enthusiasm was not diminished, quite the contrary! Under strong lights we could see that the original paint was in good condition. The panel is made of one plank of wood which was in good condition. There was an overall microcraquelure pattern in the varnish and paint layers but no flaking. There were signs of past woodworm damage which had been treated in the past; the holes had been filled from the front and retouched to disguise them but the overpaint was not well-matched and was visible as areas of paint darker than the original. There were other areas of retouching which seemed to cover original paint unnecessarily. The most obvious issue was the dark yellowed varnish, which was flattening the composition and making the picture look very dirty. Under ultraviolet light the varnish could be seen as a thick, even layer. There was also a thick layer of surface dirt on the front and reverse of the panel.

A small test to remove the discoloured varnish was carried out firstly on the edge of the panel and then in the area of the sitter’s ruff, and these gave a thrilling hint of the brightness and good condition of the original paint beneath the layers of oxidised varnish.

With the owner’s approval, we proceeded to firstly clean the picture to remove surface dust and dirt from the front and reverse. We then carefully removed the oxidised varnish and the discoloured old retouching. This revealed the artist’s original paint layer. It also exposed the old woodworm holes and very small areas of past damage, but overall the painting was in remarkably good condition for its age. We carried out minimal retouching to the old damages in order to reintegrate them without covering original paint.

It was a hugely worthwhile treatment: the removal of the old overpaint and varnish layers allowed the artist’s skill in depicting textures to shine through, in the softness of the flesh tones, the wispiness of the tendrils of hair over the sitter’s ear, the fluffiness of the fur cuff, the deep red of the coral bracelets, and the waxy stem of the daffodil. The depth of the composition was brought out: the little girl is resting her hand on the back of a chair which recedes into the background of the picture, the volumes of the costume have been brought out, and even the coral beads look round once again!

The painting was given a final layer of semi-matte protective varnish and securely fitted back into its frame.

The owner took the picture back home and said: ‘She is looking resplendent. Once again, many thanks to everyone for the super restoration work.’ We couldn’t ask for better feedback than that!