B.

Ken applies sleuthing skills to identifying its maker while Olivia and Anne-Sophie talk respectively about their conservation of the painting and its original frame.

Olivia specialises in the conservation of oil, acrylic and mixed media paintings. After completing an MA in Cultural Materials Conservation at Melbourne University in 2009, Olivia worked in Australia assisting private conservators, as well as the Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation and the University of Melbourne. In 2013 she had a 6 month internship at the National Gallery of Denmark, then returned to New Zealand, starting a private practice in Ōtautahi/Christchurch in 2014.

Last year Olivia undertook a conservation treatment of the painting Elizabeth Chalmers, attributed to Frank Bramley, involving cleaning away the old cobwebs and dust, stabilising the cracked and lost paint, removing the old discoloured varnish, re-varnishing and reintegrating the lost areas of paint back into the painting.

Anne-Sophie arrived in Aotearoa/New Zealand in 2012, from France, after achieving a master’s degree in heritage conservation. In Christchurch, she worked on a number of earthquake remediation projects and extended her skills in art-frame conservation, with an emphasis on gilding techniques, at Lin Klenner's studio. Anne-Sophie currently has her own practice, whilst completing her final year of PhD studies in cultural policy and management.

During the conservation process undertaken on the work she focused on the damaged original frame, restoring its former character through gilding, in order to complement and highlight the painting.