The painting is a 17th-century portrait from an unknown artist and used to be part of the “La Galerie des portraits, tableaux et bustes” of the French Chateau d’Eu (collection of the last French king, Louis-Philippe I). The person in the portrait is Jean Jaques de Mesmes II (1560-1642). The size of the painting is 540 mm x 650 mm.
The painting was damaged in shipping from Italy to Houston.
The stretcher bars were broken into pieces.
The old relining was separated from the original canvas.
Part of the paint layer was separated from the canvas
There was very heavy overpainting
There was painting added to original composition of the painting.
The restoration…
Began to remove overpainting
The stretcher bar was restored
Paint layer was secured
The relining fabric was reattached
More overpainting removed
Side-lining was applied to the top of the painting
