Restoration of the portrait by Hubert Vos

In November 2008 at the Summer Palace near Beijing, Dutch minister for Culture, Mr Plasterk presented the painting of CiXi by Hubert Vos which has just been restored by Anne van Grevenstein (of the Stichting Restauratie Atelier Limburg). At the same time a book was published about Dutch painter Hubert Vos and about the restoration of his portret of the empress-dowager CiXi. The book was written by Micaela van Rijckevorsel with an introduction by Anne Grevenstein and a report about the restoration process by Xiaohui Qiu, and contains a dvd about the whole restoration (produced by Visser & van Rijckevorsel).

Boek en dvd

in the book Anne van Grevenstein-Kruse interestingly bridges the gap between the differences in ethics of restoration between the West and the East. Also, Micaela van Rijckevorsel pictures the story of the life of Hubert Vos which can be found in his very personal and witty lettres. And, last but not least, Xiaohui Qiu describes the complex restoration process executed in difficult circumstances and in a very short time. Earlier this year, Anne van Grevenstein organised a conference about the restauration of the painting and the different views on the restoration of heritage items.