Restoration

2020

Stunning Restoration Progress!

On August 17th 2020, Art Conservator Emily Phillips began cleaning 110 years of varnish and grime away from a small section of the Lost Mural’s surface.

This marked the beginning of a month-long project in which Phillips will explore ways to clean and restore the mural. This will in turn launch a full-scale effort to complete the mural’s conservation. 

This marked the beginning of a month-long project in which Phillips will explore ways to clean and restore the mural. This will in turn launch a full-scale effort to complete the mural’s conservation. 

Phillips, who studied with mural conservator Gianfranco Pocobene in Boston, and treated murals discovered in UVM's geology building in YEAR, is working to bring the mural’s vibrant original colors back to life. Those colors were originally discovered by conservator Constance Silver, who worked with the Lost Mural Project from 2012 to 2015. Those colors range from the rich blues of drapery to the warm butter yellow of the mural’s central sunburst, and restoring their original vibrancy is a key aspect of illustrating life in Burlington’s Little Jerusalem neighborhood, where the mural was painted in 1910. 

Currently, Phillips is working on a previously untouched portion of the mural, which includes a major area of damage. Her month-long assessment will include both cleaning this portion of the mural, and developing techniques for restoring the damaged area. The project aims to help a team of Jewish art experts and museum curators decide the details of how the mural will be restored.