VOA慢速英语:Modern Technology Helps Restore EI Greco's Famous Painting

In the late 1500s , the artist El Greco created a large painting called Saint Martin and the Beggar. It is very famous. The artist's real name was Doménicos Theotokópoulos. He was a Greek and lived from 1541 to 1614, though he spent most of his life living in Spain. El Greco means "the Greek" in the Spanish Language.
16世纪晚起，画家El Greco创作了一副被称为《圣马丁与乞丐》的巨幅画作，这画非常有名。他的真名是Doménicos Theotokópoulos，他是一个希腊人，在世时间从1541年到1614年，然而他大半生时间居住在西班牙。El Greco在西班牙语中的意思是“希腊人”。

Art experts believe that he painted Saint Martin and the Beggar sometime between 1597 and 1599. Experts believe the painting was covered in the 1940s with a clear protective varnish, but the substance has discolored the art work.
艺术专家认为，他在1597年到1599年的某个时间创作了《圣马丁与乞丐》。专家认为，20世纪50年代，这幅画被覆盖上一层透明的保护清漆，但这种清漆已经让该艺术作品变色。

Conservators have been attempting to repair the work at the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C., they are preparing it for a series of shows marking the anniversary of El Greco's death.
文物保护员一直在华盛顿特区的美国国家美术馆尝试修复这幅画作。他们在为这幅画参加格列柯逝世纪念的一系列展览做准备。

Ann Hoenigswald is the lead conservator at the National Gallery of Art. She carefully cleans the painting millimeter by millimeter. She say the art work needed treatment because the varnish was turning yellow, and changing the colors of the paints El Greco used.
Ann Hoenigswald是美国国家美术馆的高级修复员。她一毫米一毫米地仔细清理着这幅画作。她说，该艺术作品需要处理，因为清漆变黄，正在改变El Greco使用的油漆的颜色。

"The whites turn yellow, the blues turn green. It really dulls down the vibrancy of the tones the artist intended," said Hoenigswald.
Hoenigswald说，“白色变黄，蓝色变绿。这会降低艺术家意图表现的活力。”

Before the repairs begin, scientists used microscopes, special infrared cameras and even x-rays to see if the painting had been damaged or changed. These imaging tools let them see below the top layer of paint. The examination showed how El Greco made changes to the painting.
在开始修复前，科学家使用显微镜、特殊的红外摄像机，甚至X光检查这幅画作是否曾被破坏或修改。这些成像工具让他们能够穿透到头层油漆下。这一检查呈现出El Greco曾怎样修改这幅画。

"Initially you can see the bridle was a little bit higher and most likely because some of the paints become more transparent as they age that's why we're seeing this line under here," said Hoenigswald.
Hoenigswald说，“起初你可以看到马的笼头有点高，最有可能是因为随着时间增长这些油漆变得更加透明，这就是为什么我们看到下面的这条线。”

Ann Hoenigswald has been working on Saint Martin and the Beggar for about a year, her work has helped bring back the painting's original beauty.
这一年左右，Ann Hoenigswald一直在修复《圣马丁与乞丐》,她的工作已经帮助该画恢复了原始之美。

"All of a sudden the depth of the painting, the background seems to recede even more and the foreground comes forward and, as you can see in this picture, the whites become so dramatic, and so dominant, and the contrast between this gorgeous blue and the white becomes much more forceful than it was before," said Hoenigswald.
Hoenigswald说，“突然间，这幅画的立体感和背景似乎更加逐渐减弱，前景凸显出来。正如你在此画中看到的，白色变得如此显眼，如此突出，而亮蓝色和白色的对比和之前相比变得更加有力。”

After cleaning the painting, the art conservators put another product on it - varnish created in a laboratory. But this synthetic varnish will not change in color as it grows old.
在修复完这幅画作后，艺术保护员覆盖上另一层物质，即实验室制造的清漆。但这种合成漆不会随着时间推移而改变颜色。

The art work is to be put in a protective cover and sent to Toledo, Spain, the place where EI Greco painted it. The National Gallery of Art is giving the painting to the museum of Santa Cruz in Toledo for a short time. It would be part of the show marking the 400th anniversary of El Greco's death.
这幅艺术作品被放进一个保护罩并送往西班牙的托莱多市，EI Greco在这里创作了这幅画。美国国家美术馆将这幅画短期送到托莱多市的圣克鲁斯博物馆，作为EI Greco逝世400周年纪念展览的一部分。