Neglected Painting Before Conservation George Peter Alexander Healy was one of the pre eminent American portrait painters of the mid nineteenth century His huge painting <em>Websters Reply To Hayne<em> hanging behind the stage at Faneuil Hall Boston contains one hundred and thirty portraits In this oval portrait of British Ambassador Lawrence one can see the result of years of neglect In addition to the heavy deposits of dirt grime and discolored varnish the canvas has split where it turns over the edge of the stretcher This has resulted in very uneven tension exacerbated by the oval shape causing the buckling and severe distortions that can be seen