Painting Maintenance

Pictures are valuable possessions, and not only in money, for they are the creation of a trained sensitive mind, and the purchaser must have struck the same chord as the artist to have wanted what he saw, and he should take reasonable care of what he has found. A humid atmosphere or environmental pollution - such as cigarette smoke or smoke from a fireplace - can be damaging for works of art painted in oils, and it is essential that periodic examinations of paintings should be made. To examine the painting you will need to handle it, do this with extreme care by holding it securely on both sides. Do not hold it by the top or by its hanging wire as damage may be caused.

Acrylic paintings are by far more hardy and do not require the level of care or maintenance of oil paintings, although they do tend to attract dust easily as the acrylic paint tends to have an electrostatic charge which causes a build up of dirt on the surface. For acrylic paintings a delicate brush can be used to gently remove this dust and dirt.

The surface of oil paintings should be scrutinised for bloom on the varnish, small spots of fungus, or undue cracking; the backs of the canvas examined for mould growths, and care should be taken that no small objects are allowed to fall down between the canvas and the stretcher. A piece of backing paper may be placed over the entire reverse of the canvas and stretchers, but this is not always recommended, as it prevents the seeing of fungus growths in their early stages. Water-colours and prints should be watched for undue buckling and also for the unpleasant little brown spots which are a form of fungus, and are called 'foxing'. It cannot be emphasized too strongly that if any of the above defects or others make their appearance the advice of an expert conservationist should be sought, as unskilled efforts at repair can well lead to disaster.