Removing canvas texture from a scanned photo

A couple of possibilities immediately come to mind. There are more than ten colleges and universities in the Toronto and surrounding area. If you know which of them has an outstanding painting program, you might write a brief letter (not email) to the Chairman of that department, explain your needs, and ask for the contact information of a professional artwork photographer he or she might recommend. Include your email address and phone number. At worst you’re out a postage stamp.  

In my own experience as an educator I regularly received requests regarding photo labs, equipment and even the names and email addresses of a few recent outstanding grads. During my forty-plus years at the college I always responded.  Repeat: Always.

In addition, the galleries you visit all produce catalogs regularly, showing the work soon to be on exhibition. Each gallery may have a go-to-gal or go-to-guy who can be counted on to produce excellent files for reproduction -- and do it on schedule and at reasonable rates. Good people are happy to share that information.  

I have found that personal recommendations beat Google searches by a mile.  Good luck.

While I admire your dedication to solving this disturbing-texture problem, I can’t avoid thinking of the days when my company produced publications for one of the finest museums in the world. In those pre-digital days we were provided with superb 8x10 transparencies of art I am sure you would recognize, each painting lit with care to avoid any distraction from the work itself.  

Today, I often hear the phrase “we’ll fix that later in Photoshop.” It really doesn’t make much sense.  In your case, I suggest that instead of attempting to solve the problem at the tail end of the project, you avoid the problem at the start.

There are professional lighting options available that allow you to avoid countless frustrating hours at the computer. I suggest that you discuss your work with (for want of a better term) an “art photographer” who could produce the digital files you want in a fraction of the time currently being spent and with none of the heartache.

Maybe this video can help you understand how to remove your texture from your scan.

https://youtu.be/Vy7NALaYmQ4