After the death of her parents, Pequot Library founder Virginia Marquand Monroe was adopted by her Uncle, jeweler Frederick Marquand, and his wife, Hetty. Virginia later used her inheritance to grant her Uncle's wish of making a space of learning with access that was "free as air to all." It was with this in mind that Virginia created Pequot Library, a space devoted to arts, culture, education, and the written word.

Portraits honoring the Marquands hung in the Library's grand Auditorium for more than a century, and they had started showing their age in spite of past efforts at protecting them. Pequot Library contracted Yost Conservation, which specializes in the conservation of fine oil paintings, focusing on easel works from the 18th through the mid-20th Century. Below is a description of Mr. Yost's summary of the state of the portraits, which he has spent the past months carefully restoring.

The newly-revived portraits can once again hang in a place of honor in our Auditorium, and we are eager to gather a pool of donors who are passionate about art, the Library, and its history, to underwrite the work that Mr.Yost performed, which is fastidiously detailed below. The list of donors will be prominently displayed on a plaque adjacent to the portraits as a token of our deep appreciation. This tribute to the Marquands will preserve their legacy for decades to come.

Portrait of Hetty Marquand: A layer of dirt, soot, and yellowed soft resin varnish covered the surface of the painting. Areas of blanching were present where that old varnish had oxidized and now dull patches were visible. Under ultra violet light, we saw remnants of the original hard resin varnish over the surface of the canvas, along with minor scattered losses in the upper left canvas. The top of her head dress was abraded in the last conservation.

Glue lined in the last conservation nearly a century ago, the canvas had extensive buckles and dents. The structural cracks, once held together by the rabbit skin glue in the old lining, had begun to resurface once again, and the beginning stages of tenting were occurring. Though stable, in the years to come as the glue continued to dry and break down, these cracks would continue to rise, and eventually tenting and flaking would occur.

Work done: Removed all dust, dirt, soot, overpaint and old soft yellowed resin varnish. Removed all embedded dirt and old hard yellow resin original varnish. Removed from stretcher bars, remove rabbit skin glue and consolidated on the vacuum table. Beva lining. Varnish, inpaint and mat.

The painting has a hard yellowed resin varnish applied after the last conservation. This varnish was trapping dirt and overpaint. A dirt layer was then removed with minor scattered areas of old pinpont overpaint covering areas of exposed canvas in woman's jacket.

The painting was removed from the stretcher bars, the old glue lining was removed, it was treated on the vacuum table to relax structural cracks, it was then beva lined, place back on new stretcher bars and varnish.

Portrait of Frederick Marquand: A layer of dirt, soot, yellowed soft resin varnish covered the surface of the painting. Areas of blanching were present where that old varnish had oxidized and now dull patches were visible. Under ultra violet light, we could see remnants of the original hard resin varnish over the surface of the canvas, along with an approximately 1.5 inch irregular tear in the man's jacket lower center canvas.

Glue lined in the last conservation nearly a century ago, the canvas had extensive buckles and dents. The structural cracks, once held together by the rabbit skin glue in the old lining, had begun to resurface once again, and the beginning stages of tenting were occurring. Though stable, in the years to come as the glue continued to dry and break down, these cracks would continue to rise, and eventually tenting and flaking would occur.

Work done: Removed all dust, dirt, soot, overpaint and old soft yellowed resin varnish. Removed all embedded dirt and old hard yellow resin original varnish. Removed from stretcher bars, remove rabbit skin glue and consolidated on the vacuum table. Beva lining. Varnish, inpaint and mat.

Painting has a hard yellowed resin varnish applied after the last conservation. This varnish was trapping dirt and overpaint.

A dirt layer was removed with scattered areas of old overpaint covering an approx 1/4 loss in the man's lower jacket and areas of overpaint in the upper background that look like old water spots.

The painting was removed from the stretcher bars, the old glue lining was removed, it was treated on the vacuum table to relax structural cracks, it was then beva lined, place back on new stretcher bars and varnish.