“Paintings arrive at the studio in all states of disrepair,” shares art conservator Julian Baumgartner, who receives artworks in need of attention all the time. He adds, “It is, however, odd to have a painting arrive in a manner that can’t help but make one wonder just how bad it is.” An anonymous portrait was indeed folded inside a parcel that itself had been mangled enough in transit to make one think, Is this going to be salvageable? For the highly trained painting restorer, though, “Fortune favors the fold.”

Baumgartner has seen his fair share of bad overpainting and, in this case, pretty substantial creases, tears, and worn-away paint. He runs Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration, a Chicago-based studio focused on ensuring that works of art are conserved and repaired so future generations can continue to enjoy them. With painstaking attention to detail and—just as importantly—the use of reversible, archival materials, this neglected portrait is given what seems like an almost miraculous second chance.

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