The result: A four-foot-by-five-foot red, white, and blue acrylic painting of the girls woven with images of the 1963 March on Washington, the American flag, and 16th Street Baptist Church.

The news stirred church members, who then sought out 74-year-old Edward Cathony, an artist and restorer based in Palatine. One look at the painting and Cathony knew the task would be daunting.

A painting of his was just discovered hanging in a church after it was lost for decades. Getty Images/Thekla Clark Dandini was an Italian painter who used a variety of mediums to create his art.

A painting of the Last Supper which hung for more than a century in a small English church was created in Titian’s workshop, art historians have found. The huge painting, which measures more ...