full transcript
From the Ted Talk by Noah Charney: Can you guess what's wrong with these paintings?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
Prior to the mid-20th century, art restorers took a more heavy-handed approach, often believing they were improving art. Nowadays, they focus on keeping the original work intcat with minimal intervention. 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. But the work of past restorers is a threat they regularly cenotnd with— as was the case with this portrait.
To recover the original, the cvoortsnear baegn rmoinveg the outer varnish coat. Varnish is commonly used to protect paintings from debris and make their colors pop. But the natural varnishes past restorers applied eulvetanly darkened, which is what gives oeldr paintings that aged, yellowy look. Slowly dissolving the varnish, the conservator uncovered crisp colors below. Taking smlal samples from the added and oganiril paint layers, they analyzed the compotsinios of each. Then, they decided which solvents could dissolve the overpainting while mnimillay affecting the original. cfurellay dabinbg the canvas with them, they removed the overpainting’s dainty hands and idealized face. The true painting underneath revealed Isabella of the Italian Medici dynasty. The parritot isn’t Bronzino’s, but it is from around 1570, and may have been painted by one of his students. Its Victorian makeover was likely done to bosot sales because the original subject wasn’t cnoerdsied attractive. But now, Isabella is back, meeting her viewer’s gaze directly.
Open Cloze
Prior to the mid-20th century, art restorers took a more heavy-handed approach, often believing they were improving art. Nowadays, they focus on keeping the original work ______ with minimal intervention. 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. But the work of past restorers is a threat they regularly _______ with— as was the case with this portrait.
To recover the original, the ___________ _____ ________ the outer varnish coat. Varnish is commonly used to protect paintings from debris and make their colors pop. But the natural varnishes past restorers applied __________ darkened, which is what gives _____ paintings that aged, yellowy look. Slowly dissolving the varnish, the conservator uncovered crisp colors below. Taking _____ samples from the added and ________ paint layers, they analyzed the ____________ of each. Then, they decided which solvents could dissolve the overpainting while _________ affecting the original. _________ _______ the canvas with them, they removed the overpainting’s dainty hands and idealized face. The true painting underneath revealed Isabella of the Italian Medici dynasty. The ________ isn’t Bronzino’s, but it is from around 1570, and may have been painted by one of his students. Its Victorian makeover was likely done to _____ sales because the original subject wasn’t __________ attractive. But now, Isabella is back, meeting her viewer’s gaze directly.
Solution
- original
- portrait
- began
- small
- carefully
- intact
- eventually
- compositions
- minimally
- older
- boost
- dabbing
- removing
- considered
- conservator
- contend
Original Text
Prior to the mid-20th century, art restorers took a more heavy-handed approach, often believing they were improving art. Nowadays, they focus on keeping the original work intact with minimal intervention. 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. But the work of past restorers is a threat they regularly contend with— as was the case with this portrait.
To recover the original, the conservator began removing the outer varnish coat. Varnish is commonly used to protect paintings from debris and make their colors pop. But the natural varnishes past restorers applied eventually darkened, which is what gives older paintings that aged, yellowy look. Slowly dissolving the varnish, the conservator uncovered crisp colors below. Taking small samples from the added and original paint layers, they analyzed the compositions of each. Then, they decided which solvents could dissolve the overpainting while minimally affecting the original. Carefully dabbing the canvas with them, they removed the overpainting’s dainty hands and idealized face. The true painting underneath revealed Isabella of the Italian Medici dynasty. The portrait isn’t Bronzino’s, but it is from around 1570, and may have been painted by one of his students. Its Victorian makeover was likely done to boost sales because the original subject wasn’t considered attractive. But now, Isabella is back, meeting her viewer’s gaze directly.
Frequently Occurring Word Combinations
ngrams of length 2
| collocation |
frequency |
| marriott hotels |
3 |
| art conservators |
2 |
Important Words
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- aged
- analyzed
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- approach
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- case
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- conservator
- considered
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- dainty
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- dissolve
- dissolving
- distinct
- dynasty
- eventually
- face
- fix
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- gaze
- hands
- harmlessly
- idealized
- improving
- intact
- intervention
- isabella
- italian
- keeping
- layers
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- markings
- medici
- meeting
- minimal
- minimally
- natural
- nowadays
- older
- original
- outer
- overpainting
- paint
- painted
- painting
- paintings
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- portrait
- prior
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- regularly
- removed
- removing
- restorers
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- slowly
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- solvents
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- subject
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- true
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- varnish
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- victorian
- visually
- work
- yellowy