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About

About

In 2019, Yale University, with the support of the Getty Foundation, held an international conference, where nearly four hundred attendees from more than twenty countries gathered to discuss a vital topic: the conservation of paintings on canvas. This was the first major symposium on the subject since 1974, when wax-resin and glue-paste lining reigned as the predominant conservation techniques. Over the past fifty years, such methods—often deemed destructive to artworks—have become less widely used in favor of more minimalist approaches to intervention. Recent decades have witnessed the reevaluation of traditional practices as well as focused research supporting significant new methodologies, procedures, and synthetic materials for the care and conservation of paintings on fabric supports.

Conserving Canvas compiles the proceedings of the conference, presenting a wide array of papers and posters that provide important global perspectives on the history, current state, and future needs of the field. Featuring an expansive glossary of terms that will be an invaluable resource for conservators, this publication promises to become a standard reference for the international conservation community.

Citation Information

Chicago

Schwarz, Cynthia, Ian McClure, and Jim Coddington. Conserving Canvas. Los Angeles: Getty Conservation Institute, 2023. https://www.getty.edu/publications/conserving-canvas/.

MLA

Schwarz, Cynthia, et al. Conserving Canvas. Getty Conservation Institute, 2023, https://www.getty.edu/publications/conserving-canvas/. Accessed DD Mon. YYYY.

Permanent URL

Revision History

Any revisions or corrections made to this publication after the first edition date will be listed here and in the project repository at github.com/thegetty/conserving-canvas, where a more detailed version history is available. The revisions branch of the project repository, when present, will show any changes currently under consideration but not yet published here.

July 25, 2023

  • First edition

Other Formats

Copyright

This publication was created using Quire™, a multiformat publishing tool from Getty.

© 2023 J. Paul Getty Trust
Glossary © 2023 J. Paul Getty Trust and Archetype Publications Ltd

The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. All images are reproduced with the permission of the rights holders acknowledged in captions and are expressly excluded from the CC BY-NC license covering the rest of this publication. These images may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted, or manipulated without consent from the owners, who reserve all rights.
The text of this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution‑NonCommercial 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. All images are reproduced with the permission of the rights holders acknowledged in captions and are expressly excluded from the CC BY-NC license covering the rest of this publication. These images may not be reproduced, copied, transmitted, or manipulated without consent from the owners, who reserve all rights.

Published by the Getty Conservation Institute, Los Angeles

Getty Publications
1200 Getty Center Drive, Suite 500
Los Angeles, California 90049-1682
getty.edu/publications

  • Rachel Barth, Project Editor

  • Leslie Tilley, Manuscript Editor

  • Greg Albers, Digital Manager

  • Kurt Hauser, Cover Design

  • Molly McGeehan, Production

  • Danielle Brink, Image and Rights Acquisition

  • Erin Cecele Dunigan and Chloe Millhauser, Digital Assistants

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  • Names: Conserving Canvas (Symposium) (2019 : Yale University), author. | Schwarz, Cynthia (Paintings conservator), editor. | McClure, Ian, editor. | Coddington, James, editor. | Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage, organizer. | Getty Conservation Institute, issuing body.
  • Title: Conserving canvas / edited by Cynthia Schwarz, Ian McClure, and Jim Coddington.
  • Description: First edition. | Los Angeles : Getty Conservation Institute, 2023. | Proceedings of the symposium Conserving Canvas, organized by Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University and held at Yale University Art Gallery, October 14–17, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references. | Summary: “A collection of international case studies concerning the structural care and conservation of paintings on canvas, drawn from the proceedings of the October 2019 symposium Conserving Canvas”— Provided by publisher.
  • Identifiers: LCCN 2022060885 (print) | LCCN 2022060886 (ebook) | ISBN 9781606068243 (paperback) | ISBN 9781606068267 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781606068274 (epub) | ISBN 9781606068250
  • Subjects: LCSH: Painting—Conservation and restoration—Congresses. | Canvas relining—Congresses. | LCGFT: Conference papers and proceedings.
  • Classification: LCC ND1640 .C59 2019 (print) | LCC ND1640 (ebook) | DDC 751.6/2—dc23/eng/20230215
  • LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022060885
  • LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022060886

Front cover: Conservation of Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson, The Death of Camille, 1785 (detail, fig. 35.1)

Illustration Credits
Every effort has been made to contact the owners and photographers of illustrations reproduced here whose names do not appear in the captions. Anyone having further information concerning copyright holders is asked to contact Getty Publications so this information can be included in future printings.

Getty Conservation Institute

Timothy P. Whalen, John E. and Louise Bryson Director
Jeanne Marie Teutonico, Associate Director, Strategic Initiatives and Publications

The Getty Conservation Institute (GCI) works internationally to advance conservation practice in the visual arts—broadly interpreted to include objects, collections, architecture, and sites. The Institute serves the conservation community through scientific research, education and training, field projects, and the dissemination of information. In all its endeavors, the GCI creates and delivers knowledge that contributes to the conservation of the world’s cultural heritage.