Training in the Conservation of Paintings - Calouste Gulbenkian ...

TRAINING IN THE CONSERVATION OF PAINTINGS
problems of environmental control; furthermore, when they were
put on view there was lively criticism in The Times correspondence
columns of those which had been cleaned. This led to the 'Cleaned
Pictures' exhibition of 1947, showing the seventy-four paintings
which had been cleaned since 1936 accompanied by appropriate
photographs; and to the appointment by the Trustees of a committee
of two experts under a lay Chairman to report on the whole question
of conservation at the National Gallery. These were: Dr Paul
Coremans, head of the Institut Royal du Patrimoine Artistique,
Brussels, and Mr G. L. Stout, head of the Department of Conservation,
Fogg Museum of Art, Harvard, under the chairmanship of
Dr R. H. Weaver, President of Trinity College, Oxford. Their report,
which has not been published in full, was summarised in an article
by the Chairman of the Committee in The Times of 8th May, 1948.
15. Of the recommendations made to the Trustees by the Weaver
Committee, those which most concerned the development of the
National Gallery's Conservation Department were the following:
(a) the installation of air-conditioning to preserve the paintings;
(b) close consultation and collaboration between the Conservation
and the Scientific Departments, and the provision of facilities for
continuous fundamental research;
(e) additional staff and other facilities for a permanent Department
of Conservation.
16. During the last twenty years or so the importance of conservation
has gained general recognition and a number of public museums
and galleries have set up and added to their own departments of
conservation of paintings and drawings. At the same time, the number
of independent restorers, many of whom are highly qualified,
and of their clients (who include many public museums and galleries),
has also risen. These developments are described in the following
notes:
i. Conservation and scientific departments in public Institutions
(see also Appendix B)
(a) National Gallery
In 1949, as a result of the Weaver Report, an increased establishment
(chief restorer, two restorers, three assistant
restorers and a craftsman) was approved for the National
Gallery Conservation Department but by 1954 only the
chief restorer, Mr Lucas, one restorer, Mr Brommelle, one
master craftsman, two craftsmen I and one craftsman II