After almost a decade in storage, a painting depicting life in Bermuda in the 1930s was carried through St George’s on its way to being restored.‘Building a Bermuda Cottage’, by Emile Antione Verpilleux, is set to be publicly restored at the World Heritage Centre by Margret Smith over the next four to five weeks. Michael Whittall of the St George’s Historical Society said: “We thought it would be interesting for the people to see the restoration process.“It will be in the foyer of the World Heritage Centre, and the restoration will be taking place right there.”Mr Whittall said Mr Verpilleux was born in England, but retired to Bermuda in the 1930s, living above Boss’ Cove until his death in 1964.‘Building a Bermuda Cottage’ was one of a series of six commissioned to decorate a family home in Grosse Point, Michigan.The entire series was donated to the Corporation of St George’s in 1966 in memory of Charles (War Baby) Fox, and had been on display in the upper floor of the St George’s Town Hall.However the paintings were wrapped in plastic and put into storage in 2003 after the building was damaged by Hurricane Fabian. Since then, Mr Whittall said one painting has already been restored, but the society has been working to raise funds to restore the others.Of the remaining five paintings, Mr Whittall said ‘Building a Bermuda Cottage’ was considered a priority because of it’s depiction of life in 1930s Bermuda.“It is particularly interesting because of the social history element,” he said. “One of the others is a landscape of Great Bay. It’s beautiful. It’s all very pretty, but I think seeing the history of life in the 1930s is probably more important.”He also noted that at 14ft by 3ft, ‘Building a Bermuda Cottage’ was actually one of the smaller paintings.“The others are 30ft long,” he said. “These are times when we have to try to take things slowly.“Each painting is a huge investment. The estimate for this painting and the next one is around $10,000 together.”He said the St George’s Historical Society is still seeking appealing for financial support for the project.Anyone interested in making a donation to help restore the paintings is asked to e-mail whitsec@aol.com.