Dora let her fingers hover over Monet’s signature
but didn’t touch. “Don’t take off anymore, Jed. You could damage it.”
She was right. Jed stemmed his impatience
and set the rag aside. “I know somebody who does some restoration work. She
could probably handle this, and she’d keep quiet about it.”
Hidden Riches
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Anonymous 18tn-century painter, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Adept restorers are a mix of art historians
and chemists, examining a painting closely to determine the type of varnish and
what agent will work best to dissolve it. Using test patches, they will see
which chemicals work best to melt the yellowed layers of varnish, releasing the
clear, brilliant colors below.