Skip to Main Content
24/92

15 Conservation/Treatment History

DEFINITION

Procedures or actions that a work has undergone to repair, conserve, or stabilize it.

SUBCATEGORIES

GENERAL DISCUSSION

A work of art or architecture may undergo conservation or restoration treatments at many different times. Each of these procedures should be documented in a separate occurrence of this category. In the case of modern treatments, many details will be available. For historical treatments, it may be possible to reconstruct what was done to the work on the basis of an examination of it. Opinions may differ about the extent of historical interventions in the condition of a work of art or architecture.

The conservation profession uses many technical analytical processes. Results can sometimes be conveyed or summarized verbally, or presented in a written report; in other instances, a researcher may need to consult visual documentation, such as a radiograph or infrared photograph. Scholars may find it beneficial to know what tests and methods have been applied and what documents are available for consultation, even though the records themselves may not be immediately available.

Conservation or treatment history is of interest to the researcher because it may explain changes in the work’s appearance over time, or indicate areas of a work that are not original. It also provides additional information about the process of creating a work that may not be apparent from a visual examination alone. For example, the color and nature of the ground of a painting might be discovered during the process of inpainting losses under the microscope. Conservation treatment may alter the appearance of a work so much that they must be considered in accessing the design and style of the work. This was the case when the cleaning of the Sistine Chapel ceiling revealed colors that were much more brilliant than had previously been thought to have been used in the Renaissance.

RELATED CATEGORIES and ACCESS

This information may be used comparatively, when studying a group of objects. For instance, a scholar may wish to compare the appearance of a work that has been conserved with one that has not, to assess changes to a work over time.

Information about how the artist made the work is recorded in the and categories. Assessments of the overall physical state of the work of art, and any non-interventionist examinations of it, are recorded in the category. The documents of the conservation or treatment procedure are recorded in the or categories.

15.1. Conservation/Treatment Description

DEFINITION

Prose description of procedures that a work has undergone to repair, conserve, or stabilize it.

EXAMPLES

  • The painting was cleaned and restored in 1949.
  • Aggressive intervention was necessary because of the precarious state of lower section, caused by saturation during the flood and subsequent loss of surface due to efflorescence of salts and oil. Treatment included rapid, controlled drying. Strong heat was applied to back of wall, causing water and salts to recede; process continued for 20 days. Fresco and sinopia were detached from wall by strappo technique in January, 1967; they were mounted on separate supports of polyester resin reinforced with glass fiber. Deposits of mud and oil were removed, along with nineteenth-century repaint in 1968; blistered sections of original surface were reattached, most extensively in lower right of fresco. Fresco was cleaned with solution of ammonia and distilled water in 1989.

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: While the conservation and treatment history is required by most repositories, it is optional to make this information accessible to researchers.

Form and syntax

Use sentence case. Capitalize proper names. Follow rules for notes in the category.

Record a narrative description of the procedures applied to the work of art or architecture to stabilize or otherwise repair or conserve it. Some courses of treatment may be composed of many steps or stages. This subcategory describes any changes in the appearance or condition of the work as a result of conservation or restoration treatment. There may be multiple conservation reports associated with an object over time. Repositories will typically record long and detailed conservation reports, naming the specific processes and materials used.

Conservation treatments are documented in formal reports kept by conservators and found in museum or gallery records. Conservation information, especially historical data, may be found in published or unpublished sources. The techniques used in conservation science are complex and often difficult for the non-technical audience. A description of the treatment of an object provides a summary of a technical process in a format and language familiar to researchers.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Free text: This is not a controlled field, however the use of consistent terminology is recommended for clarity. Use the indexing subcategories described below to record the agents, dates, etc. of the treatments.

15.2. Treatment Type

DEFINITION

The name of the conservation treatment or technical/scientific restoration procedure performed on the work.

EXAMPLES

  • inpainting
  • repainting
  • restoration
  • relining
  • preservation
  • cleaning
  • repair
  • washing
  • mounting
  • consolidation
  • stabilizing

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record a term or terms indexing the treatment. Use lower case.

If retrieval on the type of treatment is required, it should be indexed here. Identify the types of treatments carried out on the work. This subcategory should make use of terms drawn from an established controlled vocabulary that describe treatments performed on a work.

The information in this subcategory allows the researcher to identify the treatments a work has received and to locate works treated in the same way. For example, a researcher may wish to examine all paintings by Michelangelo and his contemporaries that have been cleaned in the last half of the 20th century, in order to compare their color to that of the newly restored Sistine Ceiling.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Authority or controlled list: Use the or a controlled list to control terminology. An authority with hierarchical structure, cross referencing, and synonymous terms is recommended.

Use terminology from the Art & Architecture Thesarus (AAT) Hierarchy Display (especially the Processes and Techniques hierarchy) and other sources, as required.

15.3 Treatment Agent

DEFINITION

The identification of the person who performed a specific conservation procedure, including his or her name, role or title, and institutional affiliation. .

EXAMPLES

  • Klein, Peter (conservator, Ordinariat für Holzbiologie, Universität Hamburg, (Hamburg, Germany))
  • Dini, Dino (conservator (Florence, Tuscany, Italy))
  • Columbus, Joseph V. (textile conservator, National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC, United States))
  • unknown restorer

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record the name and institutional affiliation of the person or persons who treated or examined the work. Also record the names of corporate bodies that have done conservation, such as when a construction firm reinforces a damaged building.

Form and syntax

For guidelines regarding format and syntax of personal and corporate body names, see the subcategory and the .

While a full name may be available for modern treatments, it may not be known who restored or treated a work in the past. This information is drawn from documentation relating to the conservation or restoration of a work, which includes formal reports, other published materials, and unpublished material found in the files of museums and galleries. Historical information may also be found in published and unpublished sources.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Authority: Control this subcategory with the . Use controlled vocabulary to indicate unknown hands.

15.4 Treatment Date

DEFINITION

The date on which a particular procdure or treatment was performed.

EXAMPLES

  • 25 May 1954
  • before 1952
  • 1993
  • between 1700 and 1798
  • 16th century
  • Summer 1956

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: If you are recording a conservation or treatment report, including the date of the report is highly recommended. Include nuance and expressions of uncertainty as necessary.

Form and syntax

Follow rules for display dates in .

Various levels of certainty will have to be accommodated, as specific dates will be known for modern treatments, but historically, it may only be known that a work was restored during a particular century or other broad date range.

The date of a particular treatment may assist the researcher in assessing a work’s current condition (see the category) or in evaluating how its appearance may have changed over time.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Free-text: This is not a controlled field. Maintain consistent capitalization, punctuation, and syntax where possible. Index the dates in the controlled and subcategories.

15.4.1 Earliest Date

DEFINITION

The earliest date when the procedure or treatment took place.

EXAMPLES

  • 1954-05-25
  • 1948

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record the earliest month, day, and year, or the earliest year alone, as indicated by the display .

Form and syntax

Always record years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar in the indexing dates fields. Record the precise day and time, if possible. Use the following syntax: YYYY-MM-DD (year, month, day, separated by dashes), if possible. (The standards suggest alternate possibilities: you may use an alternative syntax if you are consistent and it is compliant with the standards.) It is optional to record ; however, if you record a value here, you must also record . For additional rules, see

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Controlled format: Date information must be formatted consistently to allow retrieval. Local rules should be in place. Suggested formats are available in the ISO Standard and W3 XML Schema Part 2.

  • ISO 8601:2004 Representation of dates and times. International Organization for Standardization. Data Elements and Interchange Formats. Information Interchange. Representation of Dates and Times. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization, 2004.

    XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes, 2001.

15.4.2 Latest Date

DEFINITION

The latest date when the procedure or treatment took place.

EXAMPLES

  • 1954-05-25
  • 1952

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record the latest month, day, and year, or the latest year alone, as indicated by the display .

Form and syntax

Always record years in the proleptic Gregorian calendar in the indexing dates fields. Record the precise day and time, if possible. Use the following syntax: YYYY-MM-DD (year, month, day, separated by dashes), if possible. (The standards suggest alternate possibilities: you may use an alternative syntax if you are consistent and it is compliant with the standards.) It is optional to record ; however, if you record a value here, you must also record . The may be the same as the , if the display indicates that the work took place on a single date (as opposed to having taken place over a longer period of time). For additional rules, see.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Controlled format: Date information must be formatted consistently to allow retrieval. Local rules should be in place. Suggested formats are available in the ISO Standard and W3 XML Schema Part 2.

  • ISO 8601:2004 Representation of dates and times. International Organization for Standardization. Data Elements and Interchange Formats. Information Interchange. Representation of Dates and Times. Geneva, Switzerland: International Organization for Standardization, 2004.

    XML Schema Part 2: Datatypes, 2001.

15.5 Treatment Place

DEFINITION

The location, studio, or laboratory where the procedure or treatment was performed.

EXAMPLES

  • Conservation Analytical Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution (Washington, DC, United States)
  • National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
  • Albright-Knox Art Gallery (Buffalo, New York, United States)

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record the place where the treatment took place, which is not necessarily the institution or place associated with the conservator. Note that the conservator may come to the work of art rather than having the work brought to him or her.

Form and syntax

For guidelines regarding the format and syntax of corporate body names, see the .

While full details may be available about recent treatments, it may not be known where a work was treated in the past. Information about place can be drawn from the documents of the treatment itself, which include formal reports, most often unpublished, found in the files of conservators, museums, and galleries.

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Authority: Control this subcategory with the ; also use the as necessary. Populate the authorities with terminology from the controlled vocabularies named below. Authorities with hierarchical structure, cross referencing, and synonymous names are recommended.

Populate the authority with names from the following published sources, and others as necessary: Thesaurus of Geographic Names (TGN), NGA and USGS, Canadiana Authorities, LC Name Authorities, and the Official Museum Directory. Washington, DC: American Association of Museums, 2004.

15.6 Remarks

DEFINITION

Additional notes or comments pertinent to information in this category.

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record a note containing additional information related to this category. Use consistent syntax and format. For rules regarding writing notes, see .

FORMAT/TERMINOLOGY

Free-text: This is not a controlled field. Use consistent syntax and format.

15.7 Citations

DEFINITION

A reference to a bibliographic source, unpublished document, or individual opinion that provides the basis for the information recorded in this category.

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: Record the source used for information in this category. For a full set of rules for citations, see .

TERMINOLOGY/FORMAT

Authority: Ideally, this information is controlled by citations in the citations authority; see .

15.7.1 Page

DEFINITION

Page number, volume, date accessed for Web sites, and any other information indicating where in the source the information was found.

DISCUSSION and GUIDELINES

Optional: For a full set of rules for pages, see .

FORMAT/TERMINOLOGY

Free-text: This is not a controlled field. Use consistent syntax and format.

Examples

For a sculpture:

  • Conservation/Treatment Description: Despite spot tests and small poultices with increasingly strong solvents, the discolored surface coating was rendered insoluble. Consequently, in order to return sculptural balance to the relief, the coating on the lower areas of the carving, where darker, was thinned mechanically, at first, beneath a binocular microscope. The coating was ultimately thinned only sufficiently to equal in tonality its remnant at the upper part of the relief. 1

For a building:

  • Conservation/Treatment Description: The building has been reinforced with T-beams and buttresses while awaiting repairs made necessary due to earthquake damage.

For a painting:

  • Conservation/Treatment Description: Lightly cleaned, lined, and re-varnished. Tear repaired with Japanese tissue. Minor refilling of color along edges with acrylic paint.

For a painting:

  • Conservation/Treatment Description: The lining canvas was in place when the painting was treated privately in 1942, and records indicate at least two generations of retouching were present. Prior to acquisition, discolored varnish and earlier retouching were removed, and a surface coating of mastic applied. No conservation work has been carried out since acquisition. 2

For a desk, including indexing fields for , , , etc.:

  • Conservation/Treatment Description: First steps: Analysis of the surface coating with cross-section analysis, ultra-violet light inspection, Scanning Electron Mircrosopy (SEM), and photography. Objectives: To reattach the marquetry where it had buckled; to remove the old shellac coating; to clean the surfaces; to re-polish the piece. 1. Mounts were removed and the parts of the piece were dismantled. 2. Marquetry was re-hydrated, new animal glue was injected as necessary to readhere the marquetry. 3. All surfaces were cleaned. Shellac and copal resin polish was applied. 4. Beeswax was applied over the polish to lessen the high shine of the polish.
    Type: cleaning | stabilizing | gluing | polishing
    Date: 31 March 2003 - 7 June 2003 Earliest Date: 2003-03-31 Latest Date: 2003-06-07
    Agent: Benno Miles, Conservator (Meeko Museum, Ransford, Maine, USA)
    Place: Meeko Museum (Ransford, Maine, USA)

Revised 10 January 2024
by Emily Benoff

Notes

  1. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Department of Objects Conservation and Scientific Research, Treatment Report, Donatello’s Madonna of the Clouds, 3 May 1994. ↩︎

  2. From the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Published at https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/collection/artobject/1152/versions/1995-01-01_artobject_1152.pdf. ↩︎