The Harem Taking a Walk Detail of the heads

Painting without the frame. When this conservation project began, the painting reflected little intervention by restorers except for the fact that the canvas had been relined (backed with another canvas for support). The action of time and climate—the Crocker was not air-conditioned until 1978—affected both the surface and the structure of the painting and its frame. The painting had dusty, yellowed varnish and many losses in the frame's gilding and ornament. Remarkably, though the surface had cracked significantly as is usual for canvases of this age, very few losses of paint had occurred.

Raked lighting of the painting reveals lines over the face. From this
evidence it seems that the artist, using a palette knife, removed his first version of the garden background before replacing it with the current version.