The Musicians’ Ceiling

If you go through Rosenborg’s rooms and look at all the exhibited objects and the fixtures, you will discover that there are bare patches here and there. Instead of a painting or another object, a little blue note has been pasted up. This means that the object has been taken down by the conservator, either in order to be shown in a temporary exhibition or to be restored.

On the ceiling in room 6 there were three bare patches between 2006 and 2010. Three of the 13 paintings which the so-called Musicians’ Ceiling consists of were taken down in order to be restored.

Step inside the workshop of paintings conservator Berit Møller and see how the restoration was undertaken. Follow the process in the three short videos below.

The first part is about how the history which can be extrapolated from the damage to the painting is registered in photos and drawings.

The second part is about the cleaning of the painting.

The third and final part is about the completion of the work with retouching.

Today the painting is back in its place and can be seen at Rosenborg.