ROMAN CHARITY

Clean, restore and reveal!

Roman Charity is the oft depicted story of Pero, who secretly breastfed her father Cimon, who was starving to death in prison. However, in this painting the truth of the story had been 'censored out', as shown above. The original commission was to clean the painting – a job that is always full of surprises – but when the owner learned what the cleaning had revealed they requested the full restoration. The overpainting was fully removed to show the original depiction of Cimon feeding at Pero's breast, before the whole painting was cleaned and revarnished.