Amber Kerr-Allison discusses Arline and Malcolm Martin's painting at the Lunder Conservation Center Conservation Clinic.
Say you bought a painting from a London junk store fifty years ago. It's been hanging in your house all this time. You think it might be an old Dutch-period painting, and you think it's in good condition, but you aren’t sure. What would you do? You could wait for the Antiques Roadshow to come to your town. Or you could make a personal appointment with our conservators during one of our monthly Lunder Conservation Center Conservation Clinics. That's what Arline and Malcolm Martin did.
Recently the Martins brought in their lucky find to show Amber Kerr-Allison, Kress Fellow in Paintings Conservation, and Martin Kotler, Frame Conservator. "Conservation," Kerr-Allison said, "is like a balanced three-legged stool with strong legs in science, art history, and studio arts. In order to examine a painting like this and gather information about its condition, age, and history, all three factors must be in equal play."
At our Conservation Clinics conservators offer an initial evaluation of your artwork based on various imaging techniques, whetting your appetite for learning more. They also discuss ways for you to care for your painting, print, object, or frame and offer guidelines for selecting outside conservators who can answer detailed questions about the artwork's style, age, and condition.
