Condition.

The Portrait of a Girl had been damaged in a flood. The white appearance of the surface is known as ‘blanching’. There are several causes of blanching but in this case it was due to moisture becoming trapped in the varnish layer.

Conservation treatment. 

Blanching can sometimes be difficult to treat. Luckily, for this artwork it was confined to the varnish layer and after dissolving the surface coating, the paint layer was revealed fully intact.