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

THE PROBLEM
restorers of the quality needed for their best paintings, even
if such restorers were available,
(b) Service to other institutions and private collections
Important institutions (such as the National Trust, the
Soane Museum, the Dulwich Art Gallery), the owners of
great private collections (the foremost of whom is Her
Majesty the Queen), and the art dealers, employ independent
restorers. As can be seen from the annual lists of Fellows of
the International Institute of Conservation since its foundation
in 1950, the pressure of demand from such sources has
resulted in this country in a considerable increase of the
number of such restorers, many of whom were trained in the
conservation departments of the national galleries.
Deficiencies in the provision of conservation today
17. The increase in conservation services and in the number of
practising restorers, especially over the last twenty-five years, which
we have described in the last section, indicates a changed attitude
to conservation in this country, but the evidence we have received
shows that the provision of services has in fact lagged far behind
the general recognition of their importance; and that it is now quite
inadequate both to the need and to the demand.
18. We have abundant evidence of the unsuitable conditions in
which works of art have to be kept for lack of staff, buildings and
funds. Those museums and galleries which provide their own conservation
service find that the size of their establishments, their
premises and their funds for this purpose are unequal to more than
a fraction of the work needed to display their collections in the condition
in which they ought to be seen. Moreover, the capacity at
their disposal tends to be fully occupied by the emergencies created
by change of climate and the hazards of the ever-increasing number
of demands for loan exhibitions elsewhere so that too commonly
none is left for a planned programme of restoration. Similarly, we
learn from those who share the services of the Area Museum Councils,
or compete for those of independent restorers, of long waiting
lists for work or advice. There are also grave deficiencies in the
national ability to care for wall paintings, which constitute an important
aspect of our medieval and, indeed, our later heritage.
Commonwealth and developing countries
19. A similar situation exists in several Commonwealth countries,
including Canada, India and Australia. There is also a need to offer