Conservation of Easel Paintings is the first comprehensive text on the history, philosophy, and methods of treatment of easel paintings that combines both theory with practice. With contributions from an international group of experts and interviews with important artists, this volume provides an all-encompassing guide to necessary background knowledge in technical art history, artists' materials, scientific methods of examination and documentation, with sections that present varying approaches and methods for treatment, including consolidation, lining, cleaning, retouching, and varnishing. The book concludes with a section featuring issues of preventive conservation, storage, shipping, exhibition, lighting, safety issues, and public outreach. Conservation of Easel Paintings is a crucial resource in the training of conservation students and will provide generations of practicing paintings conservators and interested art historians, curators, directors, collectors, dealers, artists, and students of art and art history with invaluable information and guidance.

Materials in Conservation is the definitive introduction to the properties of materials used in conservation. The continual struggle of conservators to ameliorate the deterioration of objects has led to increasing use of synthetic polymers. These materials are part of the sophisticated technology that has been developed to augment and often replace traditional materials and methods. Conservators therefore have a wider range of techniques available. However, they must be able to appreciate the potentials and pitfalls of any proposed technique. The first section explains physical and chemical properties which are important in the conservation process, i.e. application, ageing, reversal. The topics covered include molecular weight, glass transition temperature, solubility and solvents, polymerisation and degradation reactions. The second section provides a detailed consideration of the individual materials, current and obsolete, used in conservation, drawing out the factors relevant to their effects on objects. The conservation uses of each material are summarised and referenced to allow further study. In five appendices, the properties of the polymers, solvents and their interactions are tabulated, with a list of suppliers and conversion table of physical units. IUPAC and SI nomenclature is used throughout the book. In this second edition, this classic text is revised and updated to include modern materials such as cyclododecane, and current ideas on adhesion, consolidation and reversibility, making Materials in Conservation the definitive source of vital information in the field. This handy reference book should be on the bench of every conservator and available wherever objects, from steam engines to dried plants, are preserved.

The most authoritative publication in nearly fifty years on the subject of conserving paintings on canvas. In 2019, Yale University, with the support of the Getty Foundation, held an international conference, where nearly four hundred attendees from more than twenty countries gathered to discuss a vital topic: how best to conserve paintings on canvas. It was the first major symposium on the subject since 1974, when wax-resin and glue-paste lining reigned as the predominant conservation techniques. Over the past fifty years, such methods, which were often destructive to artworks, have become less widely used in favor of more minimalist approaches to intervention. More recent decades have witnessed the reevaluation of traditional practices as well as focused research supporting significant new methodologies, procedures, and synthetic materials for the care and conservation of paintings on fabric supports. Conserving Canvas compiles the proceedings of the conference, presenting a wide array of papers and posters that provide important global perspectives on the history, current state, and future needs of the field. Featuring an expansive glossary of terms that will be an invaluable resource for conservators, this publication promises to become a standard reference for the international conservation community. The free online edition of this open-access publication is available at getty.edu/publications/conserving-canvas. Also available are free PDF and EPUB downloads of the book.

This book is a comprehensive resource covering the principles and practice of the conservation and restoration of furniture, and other decorative art objects made wholly or partly of wood. It integrates theory with practice to show the principles which govern interaction between wooden objects, the environmental and conservation treatments and the factors which need to be taken into account to arrive at acceptable solutions to conservation problems. The practical knowledge and experience of a team of conservators active in the field are bought together with theoretical and reference material from diverse sources and unified within a systematic framework. Specialist conservators from related disciplines cover diverse materials often incorporated into furniture.

Author David Saunders, former keeper of conservation and scientific research at the British Museum, explores how to balance the conflicting goals of visibility and preservation under a variety of conditions. Beginning with the science of how light, color, and vision function and interact, he proceeds to offer detailed studies of the impact of light on a wide range of objects, including paintings, manuscripts, textiles, bone, leather, and plastics. With analyses of the effects of light on visibility and deterioration, Museum Lighting provides practical information to assist curators, conservators, and other museum professionals in making critical decisions about the display and preservation of objects in their collections.