Issues in the Conservation of Paintings, hardcover

Edited by David Bomford and Mark Leonard

This volume on paintings conservation includes more than seventy texts ranging from the fifteenth century to the present day. Some are classic and highly influential writings; others, although little known when first published, in retrospect reflect important themes and issues in the history of the field. Many appear here in English for the first time, including translations of D. Vicente Polero y Toledo's 1855 essay "Arte de la Restauración" (The Art of Restoration) and Victor Bauer-Bolton's treatise from 1914, "Sollen fehlende Stellen bei Gemälden ergänzt werden?" (Should Missing Areas of Paintings Be Made Good?). The book is divided into six sections: An Historical Miscellany, History of the Profession, Study of Artists' Materials and Techniques, Structural Interventions, Philosophical and Practical Approaches to Cleaning and Restoration, and Cleaning Controversies.

This is the second volume to appear in the Getty Conservation Institute's Readings in Conservation series, which publishes texts considered fundamental to an understanding of the history, philosophies, and methodologies of conservation.

David Bomford is the former acting director of the J. Paul Getty Museum and former senior restorer of paintings at the National Gallery, London. Mark Leonard is conservator of paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

"It is hard to imagine how you could come up with a more useful one-volume book on painting conservation than this."
—Museum Practice