Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise that a masterpiece in the basement goes unnoticed for more than half a century. It is a wonder, however, when a neglected nothing, a dirty ragamuffin of a painting, is suddenly noticed amid a quarter-million stored confreres – is pulled out, looked at, looked at more closely, and finally recognized for what it really is beneath the soot, the grime, the clouded varnish: a treasure.
This is precisely what happened with George Inness’ 1851 landscape Twilight on the Campagna, acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 1945, [and was put in storage soon after, and forgotten until 2005.]…
Conservator Judy Dion managed the cleaning, and what emerged stunned all involved…Beneath the varnish, the canvas was covered by a thick layer of what is called bleached shellac, probably applied by Inness himself; while the shellac was discolored in some spots, the surface of the painting was extremely well preserved – somewhat unusual for Inness’ work – which allowed his rendering of light to shine…
Read the full article in the digital Philadelphia Inquirer.
