NEW YORK — After three years and $4.2 million, the Republic Ledger Museum of Art on Tuesday unveiled its restored version of “The Harvest at Dusk,” a 17th-century painting that has been in the collection since 1911 and, until recently, was mostly brown.
Conservators removed six layers of varnish, a century of cigarette smoke, and two later additions believed to have been painted by a well-meaning curator in 1954. What remains is a work that the museum describes as “40 percent more restored.”
“You can finally see the sky,” said chief conservator Anja Lindqvist, gesturing at a region of the canvas that is now blue. “For decades people assumed it was a night scene. It was not. It was a very dirty day.”
The restoration also revealed a small dog in the lower left corner, previously mistaken for a shadow, and a second, smaller dog behind it, previously mistaken for a larger shadow.
Critics have been enthusiastic. “The painting is now legible,” wrote one reviewer, “which is more than can be said for the wall text.”
The museum will celebrate the unveiling with a members’ preview, a lecture series and a gift shop display of umbrellas printed with the newly visible sky.