Will you drop by for A Peek at Potter at the Mauritshuis? The restoration of the world-famous painting The Bull by Paulus Potter began in March 2024, following extensive preliminary research in 2023. Our conservators worked on this largest painting in the Mauritshuis for a full year. Now this major project has been completed!
So, how does one exactly restore a painting? What choices do our conservators face? And why does it all go so slowly and carefully? In this presentation, we told you all there is to know about the now completed restoration process. Ofcourse we also shared everything we know about one of the most famous paintings in the Netherlands. The entire process could be witnessed live and online. That way we made the research accessible, light, and captivating for everyone.
The painting can still be admired in the restoration studio for now. After that, it will be rehung in its original place.
Crowd favorite
Before the Girl with a Pearl Earring took center stage, The Bull was the main act at the Mauritshuis. What makes it special? Paulus Potter painted a quintessentially Dutch scene on a massive canvas (235.5 x 339 cm).
For its makeover, we brought out the latest tech. You, as a visitor, got an exclusive front-row seat to witness the restoration live!
Too complicated? No way! We aim to tell the story of the restoration process and the history of the painting in a fun and accessible way.
Every Friday: Q and A with the conservators
Every Friday afternoon at 14:00, our art restorers will come to the Golden Room in the museum for an exclusive Q&A session. Feel free to ask them anything about the art restoration process: Are they ever nervous? What is the most fun thing to do during restoration? And how does it actually work?
Abbie and Jolijn will be more than happy to tell you all about this huge project.
The restoration is complete
We have spec-ta-cow-lar news: the restoration of The Bull is complete, and what a result! In December 2025, the final layer of varnish was applied, bringing more than a year of conservation work to a close, following an extensive period of research. The results speak for themselves: the painting now has greater depth and contrast. The Bull is positively glowing in its meadow.
Abbie and Jolijn say: “For a year and a half, we were looking over Potter’s shoulder. He worked very spontaneously and could be quite changeable, he kept altering things as he painted. Our goal was always to stay as close as possible to Potter’s original intention, to how he painted The Bull in 1647. We can now say that we’ve achieved that.”
For now, The Bull can still be admired in the restoration studio. Soon, it will be rehung in its original place in the Mauritshuis.
Update: what came before?
- Every restoration process begins with extensive research. This helps the conservators understand the condition of the painting better and allows them to come up with a plan of action.
- The painting itself was thoroughly examined. This included using X-rays and infrared technology to see through the many layers of paint.
- Additionally, other works by Paulus Potter were studied.
- In March 2024, the painting was moved to 'the stable', as we call it, the restoration studio in the museum.
- From this point on the actual restoration truly began, and visitors of the Mauritshuis could witness the progress in real time.
During the varnish removal, you encounter the retouching paint from previous conservators. Most of this old restoration paint was removed so that the conservators could rebuild The Bull from the ground up. In this phase, all the damages were exposed.
In the final phase, conservators Abbie Vandivere and Jolijn Schilder faced several challenges. How could they return the painting to Potter’s original intention without making assumptions themselves? They also made various discoveries, such as finding that in some areas the original paint was completely missing. And what should be done with paint added by earlier restorers? Below, we highlight a number of these issues.
Restoration dilemmas
Chest hair or waxing?
When restoring a painting, you constantly make new discoveries. For example, we discovered that the chest hair of “Farmer Teun” had been repainted to be fuller than Potter had originally intended, during restoration work in the 1970s. Completely in line with the latest fashion! Farmer Teun has now had a light “wax”: the hairs have been repainted to be much more subtle.
French branch or no French branch?
Another restoration dilemma is that of the “French branch”. The canvas is badly damaged at the top. When the painting was looted by the French in 1795, it ended up in the Louvre. There, they also noticed the damage and solved it by painting an extra branch over it. The branch was never Potter's intention, but it is part of the painting's history. Would you leave it as it is, or paint over it so that it is no longer visible?
Stormy or summery?
During the restoration, we discovered that the sky had been painted over many times. At first, it looked as if a storm was brewing, but after the restoration, it looks completely different: we see an early summer's day, around May or June. We discovered that Potter had painted the weather much more realistically and subtly than we had thought. The restorers are going to “fill in” a number of areas in the sky as they think Potter intended.
Want to learn more?
Would you like to learn about everything there is to know about the restoration process? For example, why exactly did it need to be restored? And where was it painted? Then quickly browse through our latest Art Story, featuring exciting ins and outs about the world-famous Bull.
Paulus Potter, famous animal painter
Paulus Potter created many more works than just The Bull. He is even one of the most famous animal painters of the 17th century. His work earned him the nickname 'the animal painter'. But how did he leave behind such a large oeuvre, even though he was only 28 years old wen he died? And what does Johan Maurits (the one from the Mauritshuis!) have to do with him?
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Made possible by a bequest from Mrs. A.D. Bonebakker-van Enter, an anonymous donation, the Debman Foundation and Stichting Retourschip.
