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Warning! Don't use damar as a final picture varish
I have an old 10x8" oil on panel that was badly scratched a few years ago. I finally decided to repair it. First thing was to remove the damar picture varnish. Well, I rubbed and I scrubbed the surface with mineral spirits and then turpentine. The varnish didn't budge. Then I got serious. Knowing that I could repair any damage I would inflict (after all I had done the painting -- started in 1973, finished in 1977), I attacked the surface with alcohol and then acetone. I finally got the varnish off, but in doing so, I badly skinned the painting.
In the 28 years since I'd applied the original varnish, it had really turned yellow. When I took the varnish off, the yellowing disappeared. Damar yellows pretty fast.
Unfortunately, I didn't take a shot of the painting before removing the varnish, but this is what it looked like after I'd removed the damar. The painting is skinned!
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