British Pathe

M/S of old master restorer Mr Aczel sitting at a table in a laboratory in Brook Street, London; he is wearing a white coat and is surrounded by lots of bottles, potions and pieces of equipment; he takes the lid off a bottle and pours some dark liquid from it into a small beaker. M/Ss as his assistant,...

M/S of old master restorer Mr Aczel sitting at a table in a laboratory in Brook Street, London; he is wearing a white coat and is surrounded by lots of bottles, potions and pieces of equipment; he takes the lid off a bottle and pours some dark liquid from it into a small beaker. M/Ss as his assistant, Sidney Bennett enters shot carrying a painting that he puts on the table; Mr A puts it in front of him and smears some cleaning fluid on it, then starts to clean it with some cotton wool. C/U as he examines it through a small magnifying instrument.

M/Ss and C/Us as he cleans the painting with a small cotton-bud while looking through a magnifying glass; dipping the bud into a glass of cleaning fluid. C/Us of the painting as a face is revealed; Mr A as he cleans. High angle M/S looking down on the cleaned painting showing a portrait of a woman with long tumbling hair and a white top; the painting is removed from the table and another is put in its place.

M/Ss and C/Us of Mr A looking closely at the picture, he then takes a hypodermic syringe and injects fish glue or hot beeswax under the paint, and irons over it to correct damaged paint or bubbles on the surface. M/S of SB bringing in an x-ray of a painting which shows damage under the paint skin. C/U as Mr A examines it through some kind of magnifying instrument.

C/U of a tray of instruments; Mr A's hand picks up a scalpel and we pan right to see him clearing some paint from a picture to reveal a window that had been painted over. C/Us and M/S of him doing this work. M/S of SB working on a painting, panning left to show Mrs Aczel sitting in front of a painting and receiving instruction from Mr A. M/S of Mrs A retouching this painting under Mr A's direction; extreme C/U of the painting as Mrs A paints some tiny dots on the portrait.

Note: on file is a newspaper cutting and extensive hand-written notes on the cleaning and restoring process.