Sharpening Perceptions: How to copy a masterpiece

An exhibition of copies of paintings in the Fitzwilliam Museum made by students at the Hamilton Kerr Institute as part of their training to become painting conservators. The copies are displayed alongside the original paintings. They are not intended to look the same as the original but to show how it was made, with areas of bare canvas or panel, priming layers, drawing, etc. The areas that are brought to completion show how the original may have looked before pigments faded. The act of copying focuses the student’s attention and helps them see things in paintings that casual observers might easily miss.