or gallery varnish. In painting, indicates a light colouring (varying from brown to golden yellow) that a painting assumes over time, caused by the natural yellowing of the varnish and the perspiration of the binder. The gallery varnish acts as a testimony of the life of the painting through time and may be valued as an integral part of the work. Most restoration schools consider it as an element not to remove, except in the case in which the alteration impedes the correct reading of the painting. The concept of the gallery varnish, its appreciation and its negation (with the intention to eliminate it) were and today are at the centre of noted controversy, often referable to the history of preference. The Italian term Patina is also used in the English language, but refers specifically to sculpture.