ne
Art
I
Touching Time
Master painter Peter
Tysver restores a
1600s religious icon.
Restoration
Artware
From an original Winslow Homer watercolor to a novice oil
portrait, Oliver Brothers treats each work with an expert hand.
By Kiley Jacques
84 nshoremag.com March 2014
KJ NS Mar14 Oliver.indd 84
nside an obscure industrial
building on Beverly's Elliot Street,
a small group of artists bands together in a manner reminiscent of
Europe's ateliers. Oliver Brothers Fine Art
Restoration and Conservation, the country's first and longest operating company
of its kind, resurrects Old Masters and
frames fresh talent.
The gesso-scented studio bears a
history as rich and layered as many of
its restored paintings. In 1850, founder
James Oliver, a trained art restorer from
Scotland, set up shop in New York City
with his son, George, and accommodated
requests made by the likes of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution.
Sometime after the Civil War, George
relocated to Boston and established
Oliver Brothers (then known as "James
Oliver's Sons") as the leading art restoration firm in the Northeast.
In turn, George's own two sons, Fred
and George Taylor, were trained in the
art and science of painting restoration.
Taylor proved a brilliant innovator. His
photographs by elise donoghue
1/17/14 12:39 PM
