The Painter's Voice – The Restoration of Two Master Paintings

In 2001, two life-size animal portraits, Rhinoceros (1740) and Lion (1752), by French master Jean-Baptiste Oudry were recovered from the basement of a German museum where they had been stored for over a century. The years of neglect had taken a dramatic toll on the paintings, which were creased, torn, and deeply scarred. In 2003, the J. Paul Getty Museum and the Staatliches Museum Schwerin were able to transport these treasures to the Getty Center for an ambitious conservation partnership.

In the DVD The Painter's Voice: The Restoration of Two Master Paintings, acclaimed filmmaker William Friedkin, working with editor Darrin Navarro, follows the painstaking efforts of J. Paul Getty Museum conservators Mark Leonard and Tiarna Doherty to restore Oudry's original vision to Rhinoceros and Lion. These works, two of Oudry's largest, most resplendent paintings, were part of the exhibition Oudry's Painted Menagerie held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, May 1-September 2, 2007.