inpaint

   In art restoration, to repaint a damaged or missing portion of a painting in order to return the artwork to visual harmony. There may be other treatments necessary in a painting's restoration which should precede the point at which inpainting is appropriate. Preparatory stages might include stabilizing the support and its surface, and filling areas of lost paint to raise the depth of any gap between the support and the surface of surrounding paint. This filling material may need to be textured to match the original paint surrounding it. It may also be necessary to apply several layers of color in order to precisely match the surrounding paint. Inpainting should be carried out with conservationally sound materials, easily reversible and distinguishable from the original. In order to detect inpainting in an old painting, carefully examine it under both white and ultraviolet (UV) light. Although the value of old and new colors may be identical under white light, because recently applied paint absorbs UV, infills will appear to be darker than otherwise matching original paint.