After the doors of Falkland Palace were closed the project team flew into action!
A back board was made for the painting to help support it and make it easier to move into the Chapel Royal from the Tapestry Gallery.
The painting is very large (over 2x2m) on solid wood, with old metal brackets on the back the painting was also extremely heavy and required the help of the T&S team.
The protective conservation covering was taken off to allow Henry and Gail to take paint samples. This will give them a better idea of what the paint contains chemically and how best to treat it.
They also had a look at the painting with a UV light. This enabled them to see the different layers of paint and retouching over the last 400 years, fascinating!
In the end it took the team 6 hours to make the board, unwarp the painting, attach the painting to the board, take paint samples, do a UV check and wrap up the painting again, phew!
