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

[quickreaver.livejournal.com]

I wish I did! There's a conspicuous hole in my knowledge when it comes to preservation...

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I have a HS acquaintance who does paper restoring...and my sister has a BFA...but, um...I guess my only suggestion is to find your local fine arts college and raid their library.

[maypoles.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I don't. ;( Have you tried little_details? They know a little about everythinggg.

[rayvlin.livejournal.com]

Try your library if you can't find anything. I know I've seen something on the restoration of the sisteen chapel. I'll see what I can find when I get home.

[hsifeng.livejournal.com]

I am not an expert, but my Google-fu found this super quick set of answers (at, you know, Answers.com): http://www.answers.com/topic/art-conservation-and-restoration

What are you looking for in particular? How to restore a certain type of art? The tools/chemicals used? The time involved? Info about art restorers?

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

This may give you a few links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opificio_delle_pietre_dure The Opificio is, in addition to its work in pietra dure, the Florentine mosaic, the main lab for restoration of artwork in Italy. And the story of the restoration of the Cimabue crucifix after the 1966 flood will probably give you some details for the story...and the book this article mentions, Dark Water, actually has a tremendous amount of this kind of info. It's utterly fascinating if you like that kind of thing.

And this is in Italian, but it's a link to the restoration dept for the Italian Cultural Ministry; I remember watching an enormous painting being restored at the Accademia many years ago; the restorers were up on scaffolding in front of it, doing tiny detailed things while mobs of tourists mostly ignored them.

(And I speak Italian; if you run into anything that you can't get a translation for, send it over!)

Youtube Vidoes

[rayvlin.livejournal.com]

A very detailed video on a conservation effort of a Renaissance painting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V--J37806dU

An art restorer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ROgqH27DE0

There are actually quite a few documentaries on youtube that are a bit long. Try using phrases like conservation, restoration, and a specific medium.

Note to add

[rayvlin.livejournal.com]

Something that is very important that I remember hearing from my art history class is that any thing a restorer does/adds/corrects must be able to be reversed which is why you may still be able to make out cracks in painting on display at museums. Art restorers are set out to reverse time as much as they can, not improve the piece.

[rbmi-fan.livejournal.com]

You could always have your preservation specialist murdered for completely unrelated reasons that don't become clear until later. Which probably won't actually help you *is unhelpful*

[annie200.livejournal.com]

I thought you were writing White Collar for a moment, but now i'm not so sure????

[pkwench.livejournal.com]

I still have no knowledge about this subject, but I fully approve of this venture! :D