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From M. J. Lefler

Good luck and more power to James Beck (17 January, p 42) as he fights to keep those only interested in the profit potential of ill-advised art restoration from destroying the true beauty of our artistic heritage.

I remember the long, long queue I stood in during my last visit to the Vatican. I remember its painfully slow movement as I eagerly anticipated seeing Michelangelo’s amazing frescoes in the Sistine Chapel. Then the moment arrived, and I was there. I looked up. Horrors! What had they done to this beautiful, amazing work of artistic creation? I felt as if I was looking not at the original work but at some art student’s conception of what the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel should look like. To my mind, the restoration has grossly perverted one of the greatest artistic masterpieces of all time.

There is a parallel here with my profession. As a tattooist for the last 15 years, I sometimes get clients who come into my shop wanting me to redo or touch up a fantastic, skilfully done tattoo created by another artist in the past. I try tactfully to explain why I feel that such work would not be a wise choice: “The tattoo you have is in great shape. It looks great! When you got the tattoo, it climbed aboard your body and has journeyed with you through time. For me to redo it would ruin the character it now has.”

The restoration work being done on the art of past masters is an abomination if it removes the very experiential nature of a given piece that it has acquired over time, much as redoing a piece in my line of work destroys the same. Let the original artist and the journey the piece has had through time speak to us now and in the future.

Austin, Texas, US