Simon Gillespie, Accredited Art Restorer

 
 

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DIRECTOR

I have been a conservator since 1978. I was inspired by a visit to a studio when I was living in Mexico City, where I witnessed what I thought were rather flippant methods being used and decided to come back to London and learn. I took two apprenticeships, studied chemistry and attended art history lectures, then opened my own studio in 1982.

I’m always fascinated by self-portraits. There is a drama and an intensity to painting oneself, and it is notoriously hard to get right. Restoring self-portraits, especially by Old Masters, is an electric experience. It is quite magical to be sitting in exactly the same position as the artist was, me with a very thin brush, carrying out minute precise spots of retouching, the face of the artist staring back at me as I work. Restoring the self-portrait of Frans Hals was a particular highlight - I felt he was sitting over my shoulder, guiding me.

 
 
 

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