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Three Restored Frans Hals Masterpieces Are Back on Display after Four Years

Three of Frans Hals’s finest works are now back on display. Over the last four years the governors’ portraits have undergone comprehensive restoration. Yellowed layers of varnish and discolored retouches were removed. The paintings will be exhibited until 18 March 2018 in the exhibition Good as New.

The portraits of the Governors of St Elisabeth’s Hospital (1641), the Governors of the Old Men’s Home and the Governesses of the Old Men’s Home (both ca. 1664) were last subject to full restorations almost a century ago. Their poor aesthetic and physical condition made the recent treatments essential if the paintings were to be preserved for the future. Yellowed layers of varnish, old discolored retouches and overpainting were removed; the canvases were reinforced and the damaged areas retouched. Frans Hals’s compositions and brushstrokes can now be seen much more clearly.

High resolution images of the restored paintings are available on the website of the Frans Hals Museum.

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