Ajanta: The Colour and Monochrome Reproductions of the Ajanta Frescoes Based on Photography v1.c3.6

v1.c3.6

a dingy smear. Thanks, however, to the generosity of His Exalted Highness the Nizam, and to the genuine interest and courteous help of the late Lord Curzon, Sir Rennell Rodd, the Ambassador of His Britannic Majesty in Rome, secured two expert *restaurateurs*, Professor Lorenzo Cecconi and Count Orsini, to clean the frescoes from the clotted mass of varnish and dirt which had in some cases affected even the colours beneath. The Italian experts worked at Ajanta for two seasons (1920-1 and 1921-2), and their efforts in cleaning the frescoes proved eminently successful, except in a few places in Caves XVI and XVII, where the varnish had penetrated into the colours and any attempt to remove it resulted in total obliteration of the colours themselves.