Byzantine icon

The photo shows the icon in its state of preservation before restoration.

Materials change more or less conspicuously in the course of time, according to their consistency and the intensity of the changing factors. Icons do not make any exception to this rule. Almost every icon ages and alters its outward appearance in time, one more than another. This process affects the icon’s whole structure: the specific base material (usually wood), as well as the painting itself and the varnish coating.

In order to recognize the kind and intensity of damages and to estimate the possibilities for conservation or restoration, it takes long years of experience in icon restoration.

The icon after cleaning and with a renewed varnish.