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A little more than ten years ago, a particularly—shall we say—interesting painting restoration went viral, spawning memes and earning the piece the cringeworthy nickname “Monkey Christ.” The work, known as “Ecce Homo,” is a century-old portrayal of Jesus in a church in Borja, Spain, that a local octogenarian attempted to restore.
The attention “Ecco Homo” brought, which could be viewed as positive or not depending on your perspective, actually bolstered the town’s struggling economy and raised tens of thousands of euros for charity as people pilgrimaged to see the infamously bungled attempt. But it’s far from the only aging artwork to meet disastrous results when someone tried their hand at an update.
For Julian Baumgartner, a second-generation art restorer and owner of Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration, there’s little he hasn’t seen. Crackling varnish? Check. Deteriorating stretcher bars? Check. Stapled edges? Say no more.
When an oval-shaped portrait fell into his hands, with its structural framework crumbling and its canvas stained, that wasn’t even the worst of it. This particular painting had also been unskillfully painted over to freshen it up, despite—as Baumgartner discovers—the fact that the “fix” actually completely changed the entire feel of the work. As he works, he illuminates how the amateur attempt to restore the work actually eliminated the subtle nuances of the artist’s original intention, and by extension, the sitter’s personality.
Baumgartner is based in Chicago and runs what is now the oldest restoration studio in the city. Using archival and reversible materials, he conserves and restores artworks by removing discoloration, camouflaging cracks, repairing holes, and much more.
Via his popular YouTube channel, Baumgartner chronicles the satisfyingly meticulous, step-by-step process he employs to breathe new life into paintings, whether made by anonymous artists to titans of art history. See more updates on Instagram.
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