Behind the scenes in Conservation
Cleaning Reynolds' 'Captain Robert Orme'
Hayley Tomlinson reveals why paintings by Reynolds are notoriously difficult to clean
About
In this episode, Conservator Hayley Tomlinson reveals why paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds need to be treated with extra care and explains how she has approached the varnish removal from his portrait, 'Captain Robert Orme'.
About the painting
The portrait shows Captain Robert Orme (1725–90) at the age of 31, during the war against the French for supremacy in the North American colonies.
The poses of Orme and his horse are derived from a fresco by Jacopo Ligozzi in the church of Ognissanti in Florence, which Reynolds drew in 1752 in his Italian sketchbook.
Watch previous episodes in the series:
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Displaying 'The Red Boy'
Follow the newly-cleaned 'Red Boy's' journey from the Conservation Studio to the Gallery walls
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring Piero della Francesca's 'Nativity'
Caroline Campbell and Jill Dunkerton discuss the conservation of Piero della Francesca's miraculous Christmas scene
Behind the scenes in Conservation
A first look at 'The Red Boy'
Paul Ackroyd introduces Lawrence's 'Red Boy' – a work so popular it was the first-ever painting to feature on a British postage stamp
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Cleaning 150-year-old varnish from a Frans Hals portrait
Paul Ackroyd cleans a portrait that has not been restored since 1876
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Cleaning the 'lost altarpiece'
Britta New and Nelly von Aderkas discuss the cleaning of a Renaissance altarpiece that was hidden in an Italian wood store for many years
Behind the scenes in Conservation
The unfashionable artist who inspired Van Gogh
Kristina Mandy discusses Adolphe Monticelli, an artist admired in his lifetime, who inspired Van Gogh's famous 'Sunflowers', but who later fell out of fashion
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring an 'undisplayable' painting: Part two
Kendall Francis and Larry Keith discuss the restoration of a work with a 'snowstorm' of painting loss
Restoring an 'undisplayable' painting: Part one
Larry Keith reveals an exciting discovery about Piazzetta's unfinished work, 'The Sacrifice of Isaac', and explains the plan for the painting's restoration
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring the Gallery's oldest painting
Kristina Mandy shows the steps involved in restoring a painting that is over 750-years-old
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring Botticelli's 'Adoration of the Kings': Part one
Jill Dunkerton and Britta New find out what was hiding beneath a frame for nearly two centuries
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring Botticelli's 'Adoration of the Kings': Part two
Watch Jill Dunkerton as she retouches a Renaissance masterpiece
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Restoring Botticelli's 'Adoration of the Kings': Part three
Jill Dunkerton and Marta Melchiorre ask, how can we identify Botticelli's hand from that of his assistant, Filippino Lippi's?
Behind the scenes in Conservation
The Gallery during lockdown
Peek behind our closed doors, with Larry Keith
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Cleaning Rubens's 'Het Steen'
Find out what Larry Keith discovered when he removed 75 years’ worth of discoloured varnish from Rubens’s 'Het Steen'
Behind the scenes in Conservation
A structural repair of Rubens's 'Het Steen'
How will Britta New meet the challenge of repairing Rubens's fragile panel which has survived centuries' worth of restorations and one very severe frost?
Behind the scenes in Conservation
Retouching Rubens's 'Het Steen'
After months of restoration, Larry Keith unveils the newly retouched 'Het Steen' in the Conservation Studio