With the Conservation in Focus of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s Crucifixion of Saint Andrew closing this week, it is natural for a visitor to have lingering questions. Here is a process ordinarily unseen. The curious visitor to the focus gallery will find in the installation a desk with question cards, for your inquiries about the painting, about conservation, about really anything at all. You’ve asked and we’ve let you know. Here are some of the most asked questions from the exhibition run.

"How do you remove varnish layers without softening or damaging the paint?" is just one question asked through the run of the Cleveland Museum of Art's exhibition, Conservation in Focus: The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew. We invite you to ask questions in the gallery via our interactive Q&A and online with the hashtag #Get2KnowCaravaggio. Here are this week's five featured Q&A's!

During the run of the Cleveland Museum of Art's exhibition, Conservation in Focus: The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew, we invite you to ask questions in the gallery via our interactive Q&A and online with the hashtag #Get2KnowCaravaggio. Each week, we will feature five different questions, answered by one of our museum experts. Here are this week's five featured Q&A's!

For the first time, the Cleveland Museum of Art will conserve one of its treasures in front of museum visitors. he Crucifixion of Saint Andrew by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was painted in 1606–7 and is among the most important paintings in the museum’s collection. Starting today, audiences will be able to witness firsthand the skill, planning, research, and technical analysis that go in to a major conservation project. A sophisticated paintings conservation lab will be constructed in the museum’s focus gallery so that visitors can watch the process unfold. Conservator of Paintings Dean Yoder will be in the gallery on weekdays working on the first phase: cleaning the painting by removing deteriorated varnish layers and old retouching.