Category: Conservation
Rubens Restored in Antwerp
September 19 2025
Picture: CODART
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART (the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art) have shared news of the completion of the first phase of restoration of Rubens' Enthroned Madonna Adored by Saints, a gargantuan painting in the collection of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA). Click on the link to follow the progress and see more images at various stages of cleaning.
Gerard Seghers Pictures from Wentworth Woodhouse to be Conserved
September 18 2025
Picture: Burlington Magazine / Martin Drury
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news that a set of paintings from Wentworth Woodhouse by Gerard Seghers will be conserved in the upcoming months. An appeal for their restoration, in honour of the late Alaistair Laing who reattributed to set to Seghers, was published in the Burlington Magazine back in May.
Click on the links above for more details including the project's fundraising page.
Michelangelo's Last Judgement to undergo 3 month Restoration Project
September 10 2025
Picture: Wikipedia
Posted by Adam Busiakeiwicz:
News from Italy that Michelangelo's Last Judgement will undergo a 3-month restoration project beginning in January 2026. The work will fall to Paolo Violini, who heads up restoration projects at the Vatican, to undertake a 'lighter and shorter' campaign of work than the previous one that took place between 1979 and 1999. The work is apparently due to finish at the end of March and in time for Holy Week.
John Michael Wright – Conservation and Context at Hatfield House
September 9 2025
Picture: Hatfield House
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Hatfield House in Hertfordshire will be hosting a lecture on 17th October 2025 on the recent conservation and research of John Michael Wright's Portrait of James Cecil, 4th Earl of Salisbury, and his sister Catherine (pictured). Speakers will include Nicole Ryder, Susan North, Karen Hearn and Holly Tatham.
According to their website:
The event will feature a panel of experts who will explore the painting’s restoration within the broader context of Wright’s oeuvre and 17th-century British material culture. This is a rare opportunity to view an important example of Wright’s work, which is not normally on public display.
Click on the link above to find out how to book tickets.
George Villiers Study Day
September 4 2025
Picture: leicestershirecollections.org.uk
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Leicestershire County Council Museum Services are hosting a study day on George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, at the Melton Carnegie Museum in Melton Mowbray on Thursday 18th September 2025. The study day follows new research and restoration on a previously neglected portrait of the Duke, which has now been attributed to Paul van Somer and dated to about 1619 (see above).
Here's a list of the speakers and topics covered:
- Lucy Hughes-Hallett, author of The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham;
- Dr Megan Shaw, University of Auckland, on Katherine Villiers, Duchess of Buckingham;
- Professor Karen Hearn, UCL, on the early portraits of George Villiers, including the little-known Melton Carnegie portrait of c.1619;
- Jon Sleigh, Learning Curator & Alison Clague, Senior Curator, Culture Leicestershire, on Villiers Revealed;
- Professor Maria Hayward, University of Southampton, on George Villiers’s clothing in the context of the Jacobean court.
Here's a video published on YouTube which explains more about the restoration of the painting.
Joan Carlile at Freize 2025
September 4 2025
Picture: Philip Mould & Co. / lawsons.com.au
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The dealers Philip Mould & Co. have announced on their website that they will be revealing a rediscovered work by Joan Carlile at Frieze 2025 (which opens on 15th October). Regular readers will remember the painting which came up for sale in Australia at the beginning of this year.
Click on the link above to see a better image of the freshly cleaned work, which is rather beautiful in the details.
New Conservation Studios at Princeton University Art Museum
July 11 2025
Picture: Princeton University Art Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Princeton University Art Museum have shared details of their new state of the art conservation studios, which are due to open later in October.
It seems that they have done a brilliant job in designing the spaces to allow members of the public to get a glimpse of what goes on in such places:
Adjacent to the galleries, on the second floor of the new building, visitors will encounter the conservation vestibule, a space where conservation-related installations will be displayed. Visitors will also be able to catch a glimpse of the conservators at work through the two windows in the double doors to the studios. The 2,000-square-foot space behind the doors will house both paper and objects conservation. Each area will have ample room and highly specialized equipment to carry out day-to-day treatment and research activities.
Click on the link above to read more and have a glimpse of the new studios.
Harewood House clean Lawrence
July 10 2025
Picture: Harewood House via Instagram
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Harewood House, the ancestral home of the Lascelles family, have shared some nice images on Instagram of the recent conservation of Sir Thomas Lawrence's full-length portrait of Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood by Critchlow & Kukkonen Ltd. Regular readers will remember the full-length portrait of Lady Worsley which was sold from Harewood earlier this year for a reported £25m.
Petit Palais cleaning Greuze ahead of Autumn Show
July 7 2025
Picture: Nicolas Milvanovic on 'X'
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Louvre curator Nicolas Milovanovic has shared this rather pleasing mid-clean image of Greuze's Jeune berger in the collection of the Petit Palais. The conservation project is in anticipation of the museum's autumn exhibition on the artist entitled Painting Childhood which will run from 16th September 2025 until 25th January 2026.
Restoration Projects at the San Gennaro dei Poveri
June 27 2025
Video: Pupi Campania
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Naples that the city's San Gennaro dei Poveri, an historic monastery / hospital complex, is in the process of a €100m restoration and conservation project. This includes the restoration of several of the site's historic works of art, which are being conducted on public view behind glass (as the beginning of the video above shows).
Hall of Constantine Conserved after 10-year Project
June 26 2025
Video: Musei Vaticani
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I'm slow to news that a 10-year project to conserve the Vatican's Hall of Constantine had been completed earlier this year. The work, undertaken by the Gabinetto di Ricerche Scientifiche under the directorship of Fabio Morresi, has focused on the study and conservation of these vast frescos undertaken by Raphael's workshop including collaborators such as Giulio Romano, Gianfrancesco Penni and others. Watch the video above to see some of the painstaking work undertaken as part of the campaign of restoration.
Titian (?) in the Dark
June 25 2025
Picture: AB
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
I was visiting the Wallace Collection yesterday morning and came across their 'Ascribed to Titian' Venus and Cupid hanging in the Medieval & Renaissance galleries. The lighting of the glass cabinets below appears to have been updated recently, however, the painting is now sans any light whatsoever (I seem to remember it at least having a very old dedicated lamp back in the day).
Is it time AHN reignited Bendor's campaign from 2015 to encourage the museum to have the picture conserved?
Uffizi Painting Damaged
June 23 2025
Video: La Nazione
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The accidental damage of the Uffizi's Ferdinando de' Medici by Anton Domenico Gabbiani by a tourist has made the headlines in Italy. The portrait has been removed from display by conservators for restoration. Follow the link above to see a detail of the damaged canvas.
Fra Angelico Crucifixion Conserved
June 19 2025
Video: Italia7
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that Fra Angelico's Crucifixion in the Convent of San Domenico in Fiesole has been conserved. The work was undertaken by Cristiana Conti and Alessandra Popple with funds from the Friends of Florence, Gerhard De Geer and the Belacqua medical group.
Conserve the King's Pictures
June 10 2025
Picture: Royal Collection Trust
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Royal Collection Trust are hiring a Paintings Conservator.
According to the job description:
Our team of talented Paintings Conservators is responsible for all conservation activities relating to the paintings displayed within the Royal residences as well for loans from the Paintings collection.
Immersing yourself in this fascinating collection, you will assess, repair, and conserve a group of stored paintings, preparing them for photography and safe transport, using the most appropriate methods and materials.
The job comes with an annual salary of £34,000 and applications must be in by 29th June 2025.
Good luck if you're applying!
Conserving Michelangelo at The British Museum
June 9 2025
Video: The British Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The British Museum have published this interesting long-form documentary regarding the conservation of Michelangelo's The Epifania which they revealed in 2024.
Louvre Restore Rubens Sketches
June 6 2025
Picture: Louvre
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Louvre curator Blaise Ducos has pointed out on Instagram (@blaise.ducos) that the Louvre have been busy restoring some their sketches by Rubens in the recent past. This includes the Coronation of the Virgin (right) and Abraham and Melchisédech.
Recent Release: Jheronimus Bosch, Conservation and Restoration
June 6 2025
Picture: Brepols
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The publishers Brepols recently released this rather interesting sounding two-volume work entitled Jheronimus Bosch, Conservation and Restoration. It was penned by Luuk Hoogstede, Senior Paintings Conservator at SRAL Maastricht.
According to the publication's blurb:
The old master paintings we see today do not correspond to what the artist saw. Pictures change over time, often dramatically. This book unravels this phenomena for Jheronimus Bosch. It provides fundamentally new insights into the making of his paintings and into what has changed since then, which has significant consequences for their interpretation. This publication also compares how conservators deal with altered appearances. Strikingly, conservators determine how a painting can be seen and interpreted, by removing old ambiguities and by uncovering and unifying original elements. Even treatment of the reverse, the panel support, shows to impact the painted side. Contrary to common belief however, conservators do not restore pictures to their former glory. What does this mean for Bosch’s paintings?
Ducal Apartments in Urbino Reopened
June 3 2025
Video: Tele2000
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
News from Italy that the famous apartments of the Dukes of Urbino in the Ducal Palace have reopened after a 7-month research and restoration project. The campaign had included the redisplay of paintings in the Studiolo del Duca, of which 14 'high tech reproductions' were commissioned from the originals which are in the Louvre.
V&A East Storehouse
May 29 2025
Video: BBC via Mark 1333
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Exciting news that the highly anticipated V&A East Storehouse opens to the public on Saturday (31st May 2025). As you'll see, the idea of open storage is a very exciting one - especially as the website promises that 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and 1,000 archives will be featured within the displays. I wonder how many paintings will be on show? Regular readers might remember Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen opened a similar style facility back in November 2021.
