Here’s another painting that our conservator tackled for the new exhibition commemorating the 125^th anniversary of the Woman’s Art Club here in Cincinnati.  A recent gift, Hollyhocks is an oil on canvas painting by Mary Spencer (1835-1923).  In the uncleaned portion on the left of this detail, the sky and mountains look as if they are covered with a thick yellow fog.  But on the right, where the deeply discolored varnish has been removed, conservation seems to have cleared the skies.  The cool gray tones of both the skies and the mountains allow the bright yellow, pink and white hollyhocks to pop.  Come see the rest of the cleaned painting in the Woman’s Art Club exhibit, now open in Gallery 123. 

Image Credit: Mary Spencer (American, b. 1835, d. 1923), Hollyhocks, 1897, oil on canvas, 16/17.54:2.