It took the Royal Netherlands Embassy's head of cultural affairs Robert Aarsse to point that out to the State government. The permission to take up a restoration project came a fortnight ago.

The paintings by the Dutch Masters -- including Dirk Stoop, Adriaen Hannema, Jan Lambrechts and Peter Paul Rubens -- are just some of the 235 paintings acquired by Sayajirao II during his sojourns abroad. Each of them is reportedly worth more than Rs 1 crore today, notwithstanding the cracks and bulges apparent even to the naked eye.

Officials say a lady by the name of Grevenstein, expert in restoring paintings, would be visiting the city museum in November to study the works and the extent of damage before initiating steps to restore them.

``This is one of the gestures the Netherlands government is taking to commemorate 400 years of Indo-Dutch ties, which will be up in 2002'', says Gauri Wagenaar, State representative of the Netherlands Business Office. ``(Gujarat comes into the picture because) Vadodara has one of the largest collections of paintings, while Ahmedabad, Bharuch and Surat have many Dutch tombs.''

Needless to say, the painting restoration exercise is not going to cost the State government a paisa.

Incidentally, the museum authorities and the Department of Cultural Affairs, New Delhi, are well aware of the state of the paintings in question. Sources say a 1991 survey indicated there were at least 45 paintings -- including several by the Dutch artists -- in urgent need of restoration.

A pointer to the wealth at stake comes from art connoisseur and chairman of the Gujarat Ecology Commission Hasmukh Shah, who was chairman of the Baroda Museum centenary function organising committee in 1995. ``I cannot specify the extent of damage, but international experts have told me that several paintings need to be worked on immediately'', he says.

All that State museums department director A N Khatri and Baroda Museum curator Satish Sadasivan would admit to, however, was ``minor damages'' to the Dutch paintings. ``The temperature and humidity factors must be responsible for the damage'', says Sadasivan. ``The medium used 300 years ago in a cold climate cannot (be expected to) adjust with the tropical conditions.''

Asked why the museum made no effort to restore the glory of paintings, the curator says only a few experts are equipped to do this in the country. ``(Besides), the damage has to be studied scientifically first'', he says.