Restoration can be hazardous to your wealth

Turns out the "the best-known [Revolutionary War era] portrait of a black mariner" has a little identity problem. When restorers tried to clean him up for a recent exhibit, he turned white. According to Erik Baard, writing for the New Yorker's Talk of the Town:

“We tried to clean a section of the painting, what would be the sitter’s left hand,” [restorer Peter] Williams said. “We applied solvent on black fingers and saw a white hand. At that point, nothing else was important.” Continuing with the cleaning, the restorer found that the sailor’s bare, brown chest had been painted over a fine white shirt. A few more swipes of solvent revealed fair hair and a white ear. The restorer believes that the original white face was sanded away and painted over with the new black face. Williams guesses that the cover-up work was done not long before [present owner Alexander] McBurney purchased the picture.

Williams says that he had suspicions about the portrait from the start. For one thing, although the painting was webbed with centuries of craquelure, the sailor’s face was unblemished. Williams had scanned the painting with an ultraviolet light, which should have identified any areas that had been retouched. “Someone was pretty devious,” he said, explaining that the forgers had coated the painting with a special UV-light-blocking varnish. He went on, “We all want black heroes, and that’s what’s behind this. Create a black hero and you’ve got a marketable painting.”

Unfortunately for the innocent owner, the value of the painting has been downgraded from about 300K to3K. The bemused Burney still loves his painting though and intends to continue displaying it in his home.

I don't know for sure if the picture I've displayed is the same one, but it seems to match the description of the unrestored original. I found it at the PBS website.

Comments

[prairie biker]

I wonder what the original might have been worth.

It's a shame someone would destroy an historic artifact to try to prove a lie.

[JWebb]

They were just looking for the unvarnished truth.

[Scott P]

I'm sure you canvassed the Internet for the right pic, Gail.

[gail]

I think someone originally doctored the painting to make more money off of it. Black sailors obviously sell better than white ones. There's an awful lot of photoshop potential in that, you know. Think of all the paintings that COULD have been racially enhanced. . .

[gail]

I'm surprised the original buyer overlooked the missing crack allure though.

[maggie katzen]

RACIST!!! sorry, wrong blog....

[Scott P]

I imagine the forger's attorney will just assert that he was framed.