Varnishings

The desks were carved with overlapping slogans and initials, most worn to ghosts by repeated sandings and re-varnishings but never erased completely. ❋ Bachman, Richard (2007)

Injured by time or obscured by repeated varnishings, they often require some degree of cleaning to make them intelligible. ❋ Various (N/A)

Other men, of less power and penetration than he was — of a less open and piercing glance, searching not only the manifest but the hidden things of dishonesty amidst which he stood — might have been deceived by certain fair appearances in the aspects of Scottish Romanism; but no varnishings and no artifices could beguile him. ❋ 1823-1886 (1883)

"I have also the gratification to report that the contract for the wire has been faithfully fulfilled on the part of Aaron Benedict, the contractor; that the first covering with cotton and two varnishings of the whole one hundred and sixty miles is also completed; that experiments made upon forty-three miles have resulted in the most satisfactory manner, and that the whole work is proceeding with every prospect of a successful issue." ❋ Unknown (1831)

And note this, that even the spurious merit of the two French models can be sustained only by disguises, by suppressions, by elaborate varnishings; whereas the English prince is offered to our admiration with a ❋ Thomas De Quincey (1822)

One could take a painting and write the story of the successive varnishings and cleanings it has undergone and discuss the changes of emphasis these have led to. ❋ Unknown (2010)