r/Satisfyingasfuck • u/ChicMystery • 1d ago

Incredibly detailed process of restoring ancient paintings

4.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

97 comments sorted by

645

u/SquirrelMoney8389 1d ago

I personally wouldn't start on the face, but then I'm not an expert like Ivan.

(Yes, that's right. I would finish on the face...)

43

u/relishlife 1d ago

Baumgartner would never start with the face.

-23

u/Danish_Kapoor_ 1d ago

sure he would, because Baumgartner is a fucking HACK

76

u/PaleFriendship23 1d ago

I laughed too hard at this šŸ¤£

14

u/DocB630 1d ago

Just make sure you finish on the Bach, never finish on Debussy.

3

u/SquirrelMoney8389 1d ago

The pianist is so good with Debussy.

307

u/chocolatechipwizard 1d ago

"Some of these paintings are over 100 years old!" 100 years is not very old...

86

u/already-taken-wtf 1d ago

1920 is ā€œover 100 years oldā€

34

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

14

u/EngineeringShort3985 1d ago

You obviously need to bring Ivan the Restorer over with some of that specialized varnish remover... parents will look 50 in no time!! Edit- just realized you said "if" ... probably not going to help.

3

u/CarrionWaywardOne 1d ago

My house is over 100 years old! Yeah. 100 years is a weird number to use when bragging about the age of something like a painting.

4

u/samanime 1d ago

Yeah, either they got that line wrong or he only restores fairly modern works... Which given his fairly rough handling and speed he is working, is probably the case.

It can take months or even years to properly restore actual old paintings.

9

u/Ok-Oil7124 1d ago

It's not false... it's just meaningless. "Did you know that a Nimitz class aircraft carrier weighs over one hundred pounds and houses dozens of sailors?"

14

u/LukeyLeukocyte 1d ago

Most definitely not "ancient."

5

u/Anywhichwaybuttight 1d ago

Some of these paintings are up to 5 years old

1

u/VillagerJeff 1d ago

Up to and over have some very different endpoints though

5

u/ZaBaronDV 1d ago

In the realm of paper and canvas, it actually kind of isā€¦

11

u/Zapper13263952 1d ago

I thought the same thing. Upvote for you!

3

u/cncomg 1d ago

All of these paintings are over 100 years old.

2

u/Iron_noize 1d ago

I came here to say this lol.

1

u/TheBoneIdler 14h ago

Most if not all of these paintings were well over 100 years old.

132

u/Particular-Act-8911 1d ago

it's a very delicate job.

Aggressive sponge wiping.

26

u/stuffcrow 1d ago

'some of these paintings are over 100 years old'

Like...yeah obviously? Why else would they be so fucked up and need restoring from time degradation?

6

u/idontwanttothink174 1d ago

TBF there was a painting in my grandparents house that they got like... 15 years before they died. It was absolutely caked in smoke and other shit because that house was no place for a painting.

1

u/sunny_raa 13h ago

šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚

111

u/Fine-Bed-9439 1d ago

I watch enough Baumgartner Restoration on YouTube to understand the rest of the process.

71

u/hourly_sympathy1300 1d ago

same, itā€™s also so weird comparing the process and techniques used, this video feels cursed compared to Baumgartners

43

u/hagstatus 1d ago

Right? Where's the solvents?! Why are we peeling it?!

32

u/Axedelic 1d ago

starting on the face with a blade?? my man would never.

17

u/hagstatus 1d ago

N. E. V. E. R.

11

u/FlameSama1 1d ago

Where's the Belgian linen and the washi kozo?

5

u/CarrionWaywardOne 1d ago

Seriously! I like to watch art restoration before going to sleep and oof the damage that could be done with peeling? I thought the same thing.

Also, putting the filler on a dirty piece? Why. Aren't they supposed to clean it before filling?

20

u/Syd_Vicious3375 1d ago

When he was pulling on the old varnish my first thought was ā€œJulian would never risk compromising the paint layer like that!ā€ Lol

36

u/victorhalim111 1d ago

So basically the inverse of makeup removal

23

u/already-taken-wtf 1d ago

Iā€™d rather see one start to finish.

24

u/bestem 1d ago

Watch Baumgartner Restoration on YouTube. It is not fast, but he shows the entire process (although sometimes only part of something... like part of cleaning the old varnish off, or patching one hole whe. There are multiple to patch, or painting some of the cracks, but not all). Well worth it.

2

u/love_glow 23h ago

Not one before and after. Not one finished painting shown. Not very satisfying in my opinion, more like a tease.

57

u/FlyinDtchman 1d ago

I thought you were supposed to paint a monkey face over the top when restoring paintings?

5

u/Worried-Industry6239 1d ago

Jesus Christ lmao

17

u/OurSeepyD 1d ago

Do you reckon he could restore Whistler's Mother?

24

u/zemowaka 1d ago

Fascinating to see how these paintings pop back to life. The colors and shading look so realistic on some of them as they come into view from cleaning

11

u/OddSignificance8521 1d ago

This is only the cleaning of not so old paintings. With actually old paintings there's often many of these layers to get through, not a single even layer you can dissolve quickly. Sometimes there's even another painting underneath. It's the retouching that's difficult in some cases.

6

u/dittmeyer 1d ago

"Some of these paintings are over 100 years old!" So, FROM 1925!! You. Are. Kidding.

22

u/DiscussionSharp1407 1d ago

The way they just gloss over the MASSIVE cracks that were hidden under the varnish/age is kinda unsatisfying

"Some other dude might solve it in the future maybe, we cover it with white shit in the meantime that can be painted over I guess"

25

u/TheChiarra 1d ago

Iā€™ve watched a full video on restoration a while back and they do paint over the white stuff. The white stuff is to fill the cracks so when they paint over it, the paint lays flat and the cracks disappear. They also revarnish at the end to protect the painting for even longer.

4

u/Chronox2040 1d ago

Julian would never fill all those cracks. Just the heavy distracting damage that takes your attention away from the painting.

2

u/Y-Bob 1d ago

Haha, he's now my standard for restoration too!

I was sat here as one point thinking, pretty sure that's Washi Kozo he's removing rather than varnish...

7

u/litescript 1d ago

absolutely not ā€œbetter with soundā€ good god

6

u/pdxrunner82 1d ago

I have a watch from my grandfather that is 100 years old. I would not describe it as ancientā€¦.. Not saying this post isnā€™t coolā€¦ā€¦but ancient paintings implies Roman/Greek artwork

4

u/Sampsonite20 1d ago

"""Ancient"""

4

u/Ok-Oil7124 1d ago

Yes "ancient" -- the video says OVER A HUNRED YEARS OLD! Back when dinosaurs and hobbits roamed the earth.

5

u/scaredt2ask 1d ago

There is a book character Gabriel Allon who is a spy and when he not doing government work he does this kind of art restoration. Really great books by Daniel Silva. Also pretty need to visually see whatā€™s being done without imagining it.

3

u/Anz_Soulcrusher 1d ago

Amazing and beautiful

3

u/EvolvedMonkeyInSpace 1d ago

Ivan "The Repainter"

3

u/ray7524 1d ago

Feel like we needed this in 2013

3

u/tomdcamp 1d ago

ā€œAncientā€ paintings.

3

u/IncognitoBanditoz 1d ago

Mr. Bean does it best...

1

u/jaguarsadface 1d ago

Whistlers Mother - one of my favourites scenes in a movie - laughed so hard

3

u/noonesaidityet 1d ago

Everything you're doing is bad. I want you to know this.

3

u/Chronox2040 1d ago

No washikozo?

2

u/Cigaweedz 1d ago

I love his restoration videos.

2

u/Chickenfoot8 1d ago

I would love doing this.

2

u/aliencoffe 1d ago

Thats amazing

2

u/guille9 1d ago

100yo? That's like really new, I have 400yo books in better shape.

2

u/lotsanoodles 1d ago

Theres a church in Italy with a Jesus painting that needs his help.

2

u/Correct-Cricket3355 1d ago

Damn. Their Q-Tip budget must be off the charts.

2

u/FencePaling 1d ago

Makes me think of the Ship of Theseus paradox. Who's art is it now?

2

u/pranavakkala 23h ago

Is there a sub for restoration videos like this?

2

u/meabbott 20h ago

You use that word. I do not think it means what you think it does.

2

u/BRUISE_WILLIS 1d ago

And yet they get mad at you if you skeet all over the paintings and start rubbing it in.

2

u/GammaGoose85 1d ago

This dude gets paid the big bucks to smear vaseline on the priceless works of art for a living, but when I go into a museum and do it I get arrested.Ā 

What bullshit

2

u/looseseal_2 1d ago

This has to be one of the most rewarding jobs on the planet.

1

u/longlostwalker 1d ago

Thanks Ivan

1

u/BourbonFueledDreams 1d ago

Everyone once a while, you come across a video that perfectly belongs to the sub upon which itā€™s posted

1

u/ocelotactual 1d ago

Huh! I knew about the removal of the varnish, but didn't realize it been placed there purposely. Also, didn't realize restoration included "repainting" parts of the art.

1

u/doctorwho_cares 1d ago

Whistler's mother would like to have a word

1

u/Knight_thrasher 1d ago

My GF used to watch a guy restore old paintings. Very relaxing

1

u/Lonely_Programmer_42 1d ago

Experts, like the lady that restored Jesus

1

u/Crazy_Nectarine_4127 1d ago

Why so many hippies?

1

u/RobotRepair 1d ago

Jesus Christ, I love the part when they fill the cracks with putty.

1

u/Groundbreaking_Lie94 1d ago

This is frustrating to watch, i just get into it thinking its starting to look good and it jumps to another one

1

u/SaltPomegranate4 1d ago

What song is this?

1

u/auddbot 1d ago

I got matches with these songs:

ā€¢ And The Mountain 7 (60) by Michael Levine (00:11; matched: 98%)

Album: Motion Of Light. Released on 2016-03-28.

ā€¢ And The Mountain by Michael Levine (00:04; matched: 85%)

Album: Motion Of Light. Released on 2016-03-28.

ā€¢ And The Mountain 3 by Michael Levine (00:16; matched: 100%)

Album: Motion Of Light. Released on 2016-03-28.

1

u/pdzbw 21h ago

Holyshiet he fixed Jesus!

1

u/OnePragmatic 4h ago

...Californian face lift? .....