This oddly satisfying video shows an antique painting being restored to its original colors

Old paintings can have a certain eerie quality to them. The colors are faded, the paint looks dull and the canvases appear to be cracking. Although this antique look adds a certain charm, these paintings are even more beautiful when they’re restored to their former glory.

As you can imagine, watching antique paintings go from drab to fab is quite mesmerizing. If you’ve been curious about what the process looks like, you can now watch for yourself, thanks to series of videos and images tweeted by art dealer and TV personality Philip Mould.

In his oddly satisfying videos, you can see as Mould wipes away yellow varnish with a small paintbrush, revealing a burst of color beneath the surface. Take a look for yourself (bet you can’t watch it just once!):

In his series of posts, Mould shares some details about the painting, including a photo that contrasts a cleaned section with the parts still covered in varnish. After posting the photos and videos, Mould’s tweets amassed thousands of likes and retweets, as people seemed to really enjoy watching the progression of the painting from dull to vibrant with just a few strokes of the brush.

According to Mould’s tweets, the painting he shared was from the Jacobean era and it was being touched up to remove 200 years of yellowing varnish. What makes this colorful reveal even more fascinating is that the identity of the woman in the painting is not known.

According to Mould, we know only that is she is 36 years old, and that the painting was made in 1618. Mould is looking for clues in the cleaned-up painting to try and figure out the mystery woman’s identity.

If you like what you see, you can follow Mould on Twitter for more updates on the cleanup process. We look forward to seeing more old paintings restored to their original gorgeous glory!