Mould told ATG: “It got more likes and retweets than a Donald Trump tweet!”
He bought the artwork at auction and has begun taking off the yellow varnish that had discoloured the Stuart painting.
The gallery tweeted a number of videos of the cleaning process and a photo of the uncleaned image. The gallery said that all they know about the sitter is she was 36 and it was painted in 1617.
2/2 ....still a way to go, but what a transformation! pic.twitter.com/nyGx3qdhOZ
— Philip Mould (@philipmould) November 6, 2017