Take a Chance on Ter Brugghen

Paintings, like Cher, often need face lifts as they age. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts recently got one of its most valuable pieces, Hendrick Ter Brugghen's 1623 painting The Gamblers back from the Getty Conservation Institute in Los Angeles where it was cleaned and put on display.

As part of the new exhibit 'Calling a Bluff: Hendrick Ter Brugghen’s The Gamblers', MIA is displaying the freshly restored work, which depicts three soldiers disputing a dice game, along with information about the months-long process the Getty used to clean more than 300 years of grime and dirt of the oil and canvas. The renovation included removing extra pieces of canvas added to the edges long after the painting was originally produced, and layers of varnish were stripped away. The painting is now on permanent display.

Eww! 300-year-old dirt!

Nifty and clean.