The Art of Conservation

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For centuries paintings have been treasured as religious icons, great works of art, objects of value. But paintings age, and with age comes change: varnish yellows, candles scorch, dust accumulates. From the sixteenth century to the present day the question of how to restore such works has taxed their owners. The essays in The Art of Conservation, commissioned from the foremost scholars in their field, originally appeared in The Burlington Magazine. Now collected in book form they tell the story of the evolution of the art of conservation over the years throughout Europe and the US.

Full list of authors:

Mark Aronson; Ángel Aterido; Susanna Avery Quash; Morwenna Blewett; David Bomford; Giorgio Bonsanti; Marco Ciatti; Elizabeth Darrow; Hélène Dubois; Esther van Duijn; Bradford A Epley; Jan Piet Filedt Kok; Ella Hendriks; Joyce Hill Stoner; Ulrike Kern; Jo Kirby; Mireille te Marveld; Ann Massing; Ian McClure; Irma Passeri; Zahira Véliz  Bomford

Contents:

1. The conservation history of the Ghent Altarpiece by HÉLÈNE DUBOIS
2. Theodore Turquet de Mayerne, The King’s black paintings and seventeenth-century methods of restoring and conserving paintings by ULRIKE
   KERN
3. Caring for the King’s pictures: artists and restorers in the Spanish royal collection, 1576–1814 by ZAHIRA VÉLIZ BOMFORD and ÁNGEL ATERIDO
4. Public controversies in eighteenth-century painting restoration: the history of the transfer technique in France by ANN MASSING
5. Pietro Edwards: the restorer as ‘philosophe’ by ELIZABETH DARROW
6. Mary Merrifield’s quest: a new methodology for technical art history by ZAHIRA VÉLIZ BOMFORD
7. Sir Charles Eastlake and conservation at the National Gallery, London by SUSANNA AVERY QUASH
8. From Guizzardi to Cavenaghi: nineteenth-century Italian conservators by GIORGIO BONSANTI
9. Hopman and De Wild: the historical importance of two Dutch families of restorers by ESTHER VAN DUIJN and MIREILLE TE MARVELD
10. The restoration of Rembrandt’s ‘Night watch’ by ESTHER VAN DUIJN and JAN
    PIET FILEDT KOK
11. Helmut Ruhemann: paintings restorer in Berlin and London by MORWENNA
    BLEWETT
12. Jan Cornelis Traas: paintings restorer for the Van Gogh family collection by ELLA HENDRIKS
13. The history of painting conservation at the Yale University Art Gallery by MARK ARONSON, IAN McCLURE and IRMA PASSERI
14. Twentieth-century Italian conservators and conservation theory by MARCO
    CIATTI
15. Scientific examination or works of art in museums and galleries by JO KIRBY
16. Art history, science and practice: the training of painting conservators in the twentieth century by JOYCE HILL STONER
17. Accommodating change: twentieth-century American artists and conservators by BRADFORD EPLEY

Reviews:

‘A fine addition to conservation literature … crucially it should attract readers from beyond the conservation community’ Museums Journal

‘A book which rewards sustained unpacking, and offers a rich constellation of starting points for new research’ Journal of the American Institute for Conservation