The Original Dutch Masters

The image for this month's Featured Flickr was somewhat problematic. The upper third of the painting was dark and nearly featureless, so I cropped it out.

Adrien van der Werff 1659-1722; Chess players 1679; Schwerin Staatliches Museum (cropped) © Flickr user jean louis mazieres under Creative Commons.

The description has two long passages, one in French (titled 'Les Pays Bas: La Peinture Profane et Bourgeoise'), the other in English ('The Netherlands: Profane and Bourgeois Painting'). I couldn't locate any original source for the passages. The English appears to be a translation of the French.

Let's go through the main talking points. From Wikipedia:- Adriaen van der Werff

Adriaen van der Werff was an accomplished Dutch painter of portraits and erotic, devotional and mythological scenes. His brother, Pieter van der Werff (1661–1722), was his principal pupil and assistant.

The painting is one in a series of nearly 200 Flickr images, all attributed to the Staatliches Museum Schwerin (museum-schwerin.de/en), and all on the theme of Dutch profane and bourgeois painting. The closest text to the Flickr description appears to be Wikipedia's Dutch Golden Age painting:-

Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. ("Dutch Masters" redirects here.)

How would a professional art restorer handle the dark area I've cropped out of the painting? For a black and white version, see van der Werff 032.jpg (wikimedia.org).