TCSE: Ted Corpus Search Engine

Recorded at	August 04, 2022
Event	TED-Ed
Duration (min:sec)	05:24
Video Type	TED-Ed Original
Words per minute	157.15 slow
Readability (FK)	40.88 very difficult
Speaker	Noah Charney


1	00:07	These paintings are in peril.
2	00:09	All three have been defaced, some in ways that are almost impossible to see with the naked eye.
3	00:15	Can you guess how they've been altered?
4	00:17	You might be surprised.
5	00:19	When a museum curator inspected this portrait, attributed to the 16th century Italian painter Bronzino, they suspected it was a modern fake.
6	00:28	However, closely examining the cracks on its surface, an art conservator discovered that it was from that era— It had just undergone drastic changes in recent centuries.
7	00:39	Using x-ray technology, they peered under the outer surface of paint and saw the countenance of a completely different woman.
8	00:48	Essential parts of the painting had been modified during a 19th century restoration.
9	00:53	Prior to the mid-20th century, art restorers took a more heavy-handed approach, often believing they were improving art.
10	01:01	Nowadays, they focus on keeping the original work intact with minimal intervention.
11	01:07	When they need to fix something up, they usually make their markings visually and chemically distinct from the original, so they can be harmlessly removed.
12	01:16	But the work of past restorers is a threat they regularly contend with— as was the case with this portrait.
13	01:23	To recover the original, the conservator began removing the outer varnish coat.
14	01:28	Varnish is commonly used to protect paintings from debris and make their colors pop.
15	01:33	But the natural varnishes past restorers applied eventually darkened, which is what gives older paintings that aged, yellowy look.
16	01:42	Slowly dissolving the varnish, the conservator uncovered crisp colors below.
17	01:47	Taking small samples from the added and original paint layers, they analyzed the compositions of each.
18	01:54	Then, they decided which solvents could dissolve the overpainting while minimally affecting the original.
19	02:00	Carefully dabbing the canvas with them, they removed the overpainting’s dainty hands and idealized face.
20	02:07	The true painting underneath revealed Isabella of the Italian Medici dynasty.
21	02:13	The portrait isn’t Bronzino’s, but it is from around 1570, and may have been painted by one of his students.
22	02:21	Its Victorian makeover was likely done to boost sales because the original subject wasn’t considered attractive.
23	02:28	But now, Isabella is back, meeting her viewer’s gaze directly.
24	02:34	This painting, “An Allegory with Venus and Cupid,” is actually Bronzino’s, and it was completed around 1545.
25	02:42	It centers on a kiss between Venus and her son Cupid– but it’s been subtly altered.
26	02:48	When London’s National Gallery acquired it in 1860, the Gallery’s director deemed it too risqué for Victorian England.
27	02:57	So, he commissioned a restorer to obscure Venus’s tongue and nipple.
28	03:02	A century after this modification, art conservators analyzed and removed the overpainting with select solvents.
29	03:09	In the process, they also realized that the veil covering Venus’s crotch and the branch hiding Cupid’s posterior were other add-ons.
30	03:18	Removing two layers of censorship from the painting, it was finally free to boast its provocative original details.
31	03:26	This massive painting called “The Night Watch” was completed by Rembrandt in 1642.
32	03:33	Since then, it’s endured one dramatic amputation, two stabbings, an acid attack, and centuries of grime.
33	03:42	A museum guard immediately neutralized the acid with water.
34	03:46	Restorers lifted the grime, revealing that the painting was not set at night, and healed the slashes using adhesive and extra canvas backing.
35	03:56	But they faced an even trickier problem.
36	03:59	In 1715, strips were removed from all sides of the canvas, including two whole feet from the left, to fit it inside Amsterdam’s Town Hall.
37	04:10	They've been lost ever since.
38	04:12	But a multi-year conservation project that began in 2019 replaced the missing pieces.
39	04:20	They managed this by training an artificial intelligence to digitally paint in Rembrandt’s style.
40	04:27	Then, using another artist’s rendering of the original, the program recreated and printed the painting’s lost sections.
41	04:37	Finally, the team returned “The Night Watch” to its full size, with AI-generated best guesses to fill in the blanks.
42	04:45	All of these paintings had been altered, but none of them were irrevocably ruined.
43	04:50	With painstaking scientific analysis and technical skill, art conservators immortalize priceless artifacts.
44	04:58	They counteract sudden damage and creeping threats— and sometimes, they perform near miracles.
45	05:06	This video was made possible with support from Marriott Hotels.
46	05:09	With over 590 hotels and resorts across the globe, Marriott Hotels celebrates the curiosity that propels us to travel.
47	05:17	Check out some of the exciting ways TED-Ed and Marriott are working together and book your next journey at Marriott Hotels.

Noah Charney: Can you guess what's wrong with these paintings?