Conservation of artwork is the essential first stage of restoration of a painting, which includes a complex of works to restore the strength of all layers of a picture, its stabilization and prevention of destruction. Conservation of works of art is a mandatory measure for the further restoration of the painting since it adds durability to the original work. Modern conservation techniques do not take away from the original intent since they aim to fortify a picture without changing it. However, speaking about restoration techniques, they do change a picture for a restorer to add his or her interpretation to the pieces blurred or missed (Gupta et al.).
The tasks of conservation comprise creating conditions for prolonging the existence of a museum object, stabilizing its condition, and protecting it from the effects of external factors. Studies show that conservation leads to the improvement of conditions of paintings’ aging (Borg et al., pp. 240-245). Gentle as it is now, conservation technology may still be advanced in the future with the usage of more eco-friendly materials that will have a minimal impact on paintings’ colors. However, it is no use waiting for new technology to come into existence since, during this time, many pictures may be destroyed due to aging. Early conservation with yellow varnish, imperfect as it was, still helped to preserve many pictures for future generations to see.
Now, many people associate restoration with caution, skill, professionalism, and carefully thought-out actions – after all, not an inch of the masterpiece can be damaged. One of the most famous pictures that have been restored is Giorgione’s painting “Judith”, painted on wood around 1504 (Fomicieva, p. 417). The restoration commission managed to clear the painting of yellow varnish and notes that had changed in tone, which helped to restore the original beauty of a picture.
Works Cited
Borg, Braeden, et al. “The application of state-of-the-art technologies to support artwork conservation: Literature review.” Journal of Cultural Heritage, vol. 44, 2020, pp. 239-259. Web.
Fomicieva, T. (1973). The History of Giorgione’s’ Judith’ and Its Restoration. The Burlington Magazine, vol. 115, no. 844, pp. 417-421.
Gupta, Varun, et al. “Restoration of artwork using deep neural networks.” Evolving Systems, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 439-446. Web.