Halp! I am in a research quandary

[ratherastory]

Does anyone know of good books and/or resources that would explain the technical aspects of the preservation and, more importantly, the restoration of art works? More specifically paintings, but I am not especially picky about the medium if it comes down to it.

I am trying to write a story and realized that my plot kind of hinges on my understanding the ins and outs of how to restore paintings, which I emphatically do not. In fact, this is so far out of my league I don't even know where to start. /o\

Halp? Anyone? Bueller?

Comments

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

But they must keep a written record of changes too, right? See, I don't even know the basics of this. I would not have known any of what you just said, and I'd love to feel like I have a handle on it...

[http://users.livejournal.com/tesserae_/]

I can't answer that question with any authority, but I would imagine that keeping a log of what one has done is critical - restorers may work on priceless artifacts, and so need to be able to justify the choices they've made. Plus, if a restored piece is sold to a museum or via auction/through a dealer, those records would be part of the provenance & a useful guide for any future restoration.

If you have specific questions, I can get them answered - I have a friend who's an art dealer in Florence, and likely keeps up with this field although his specialization (renaissance drawings) is fairly narrow. But I don't know if I can ask him for a primer without knowing more closely what period you're looking at! (And keep in mind that the field has advanced to the point that one of the tools for analysis is now Raman spectroscopy, which analyses the molecular structure of pigments... Maybe start with Dark Water? It'll give you a great look at what kinds of damage can occur and a sense of the challenges the field faces, which might be a good place to start...)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was thinking Renaissance, so at least we're in the same hemisphere. ;)

What's Dark Water? I tried Google/Amazon, but you'd be amazed how many novels/thrillers with that name exist out there...

[http://users.livejournal.com/tesserae_/]

The story of the great flood: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Water-Disaster-Redemption-Florence/dp/0767926498/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330542542&sr=8-1

When I was there last year, I kept seeing signs fifteen feet up on walls and churches saying that the water'd gotten to that height - I'd read the book before going, so it was fascinating to see how the flood had impacted the city. They're *still* working on some of the artworks, too.