This little painting measures around 5 by 8 inches.  It’s painted on a thin wood panel that’s less than 3/8 inch thick.  The panel may be part of a cigar box but there are no markings.  The tiny work is too small to place safely on one of the easels in the paintings conservation lab, so it’s being conserved while flat on the table. 

The grime and discolored varnish are being removed with swabs of solvents.  There is no ground layer under the paint, so the dark red-brown wood shows through the sketchy paint in many passages.  After cleaning the contrast between paint and panel will be much more prominent.