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

CONCLUSIONS
be independent of any other organisation; and that it will be constituted
and supported by the Government. As regards its constitution
we can only give an indication of the kind of body we envisage
and of the importance which we attach to the representation of the
major museums and galleries, of the International Institute of Conservation
and of the Museums Association, on whatever Board or
Council is responsible for its management.
Staff of the Institute
89. As regards the staff of the Institute, the precise needs will be
for the governing authorities and director to decide, but we have
assumed for our estimate of cost, which applies only to the early
years and initial expenses, the minimum full-time staff of restorers,
scientists, technicians and craftsmen necessary to enable the Institute
to absorb two or three trainees a year for a five-year course
without over-crowding or impeding the work of restoration, together
with the staff initially needed to build up the Institute's library,
archives and other research and publication activities. In addition
to this full-time staff, it would be necessary for the Institute to call
upon a panel of specialists in the scientific and art-historical aspects
of conservation, for lectures and classes.
90. We also envisage a panel of restorers of note, who would be
prepared to come to work, on their own material or on that of the
Institute, within the Institute, for certain periods. It seems to us
that at any rate during its formative stages, it is only by some such
means that the Institute could make use of the best talent available,
with the least possible loss of the master-restorer's time.
Location and Space
91. The assumption made in the two preceding paragraphs that
visiting restorers and other specialists would be readily available for
part-time teaching would imply, as we have already indicated in
paragraph 78, that the Institute would be situated in Central London.
We also assume the availability, for art history studies, of the art
libraries in Central London, especially those of the Victoria and
Albert Museum and the Courtauld Institute of Art; and we are thus
able, in our estimate of the accommodation needed, to limit the
Institute's own library to books and periodicals on the technique of
conservation, some three thousand volumes, which could be accommodated
in a moderate sized room which could do duty also as
lecture room for about thirty people and as the board room. Similarly,
our estimate of expenditure on scientific equipment is confined
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