Painting restorer

Working in minute detail to restore the beauty of artworks while respecting their integrity and originality, painting restorers are interested in the history of artworks as well as the techniques used to create them.

They are the only experts authorized to conserve, maintain and preserve painted heritage. They practice their art and use their expertise on wall paintings (frescoes or decorations on rendered surfaces) and on easel paintings alike.

Teams of restorers often combine several specialties. First, the restorer of the support consolidates the material on which the pigments are placed. Next, the restorer of the picture layer sets to work cleaning the deposits that accumulate on painted surfaces over time, before beginning to restore the motifs and colors. Restorers who combine different specialties can also conduct complete restorations unaided.

On the Notre-Dame de Paris site

The chapels in Notre-Dame de Paris are adorned with painted décor and monumental pictures. All the paintings, both wall paintings and easel paintings, are being restored. Notre-Dame is benefiting from this exceptional operation for the first time in its history.

The 22 paintings adorning the chapels were taken down and removed on the day after the fire. They were then assigned to three painting restoration workshops. After an in-depth study of each work, the restorers clean the painted surfaces and restore them. The paintings will be rehung in the cathedral in 2024.

During the securing phase, two of the cathedral chapels were fully cleaned and restored. Wall-painting restorers tested the cleaning and restoration protocols for Notre-Dame under real conditions on the chapel restoration test site. During the restoration phase, the wall painting restorers will be applying the protocol that was approved at the end of the test project, in order to restore the paintings in the 24 cathedral chapels to their former splendor.

How to become a painting restorer? 

A master's level degree (5 years of higher education) is required to become an artwork restorer. To work on national collections, restorers must qualify as a "Heritage Restorer". This title is awarded by the French National Institute for Heritage to graduates of the five-year Master’s Degree in Sciences and Techniques program taught at the Sorbonne and approved specialist schools.