The Metropolitan Museum of Art

museumkids

What is Art Conservation?

What is

muse

um

kid

s

Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660), Bearded Man with aVelvet Cap, 164[5?], X-radiograph (detail)

The paintings in the Museum are cared for by five conservators. One specializes in the structural treatment of paintings on wood panels, another in thetreatment of modern paintings. Older paintings usually have a coating ofvarnish to make the colors look richer and give the painting some protection.Most modern paintings are not protected by varnish, which can create problemsfor the conservators who are trying to take care of them.

When a painting needs treatment, it is taken to a specially designed studio in theMuseum. The studio is on the top floor of the building and receives northernlight—the same cool, steady light that painters like to use. The paintings aretreated on the same kinds of easels that painters use, too.

The conservation treatment of a painting might involve removing old discoloredvarnish, mending a tear in the canvas, or securing flaking paint. Paintingconservators use a lot of different brushes in their work, from big wide onesmade with stiff hog bristles for varnishing to soft goat hair brushes for dustingand tiny sable (fur) brushes for retouching, which means using new paint todisguise tiny amounts of damage.

Conservators can use x-ray equipment to examine paintings and see what’s goingon under the surface. Have you ever had an x-ray? Doctors use x-rays to seeinside your body, and conservators use x-rays to get a better understanding of how a painting was made and what condition it is in. Sometimes they can tellthat a painter has made a huge change in a painting. Look at the example here.Without the help of an x-ray, conservators would never have discovered that theartist Govert Flinck had first painted a portrait of a young man with wavy hair(above, right), and then reused the wood panel to paint the portrait of an oldman (above, left).

Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660), Bearded Man witha Velvet Cap, 164[5?]; oil on wood, 233/4 x 205/8 in.(60.3 x 52.4 cm); Bequest of Collis P. Huntington,1900 (25.110.27)

PaintingsWhat is Art Conservation?

There are so many works of art here—and so many

different kinds! How does the Museum take care of

them all? wThat’s a big question! So big that we can

only begin to answer it here. In this issue of

museumKids we look at just some of the

departments that take care of the artwork, but there

are many more. w All the works of art in the

Museum are cared for a little differently, but there

are two things that all of them need. They all need to

be kept in a certain air temperature and at a certain

level of humidity. Humidity refers to the amount of

moisture, or water, in the air. Controlling the

humidity helps prevent works of art from drying out

(and possibly cracking) or becoming damp. w Also,

works of art in the Museum’s collection are cleaned

when necessary, but different cleaners are used for

different materials—you wouldn’t use the same soap

on a wooden sarcophagus as you would on a clay

urn any more than you would clean a toy fire truck

and your cat with the same soap. w Cleaning,

preserving, and occasionally repairing works of art is

known as art conservation, and the people who do

this specialized work are called conservators. We

talked to several conservators in the Museum to find

out how different works of art are cared for. Let’s

look at some of the ways this is done.

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art

museumkids

What is Art Conservation?

What is

muse

um

kid

s

Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660), Bearded Man with aVelvet Cap, 164[5?], X-radiograph (detail)

The paintings in the Museum are cared for by five conservators. One specializes in the structural treatment of paintings on wood panels, another in thetreatment of modern paintings. Older paintings usually have a coating ofvarnish to make the colors look richer and give the painting some protection.Most modern paintings are not protected by varnish, which can create problemsfor the conservators who are trying to take care of them.

When a painting needs treatment, it is taken to a specially designed studio in theMuseum. The studio is on the top floor of the building and receives northernlight—the same cool, steady light that painters like to use. The paintings aretreated on the same kinds of easels that painters use, too.

The conservation treatment of a painting might involve removing old discoloredvarnish, mending a tear in the canvas, or securing flaking paint. Paintingconservators use a lot of different brushes in their work, from big wide onesmade with stiff hog bristles for varnishing to soft goat hair brushes for dustingand tiny sable (fur) brushes for retouching, which means using new paint todisguise tiny amounts of damage.

Conservators can use x-ray equipment to examine paintings and see what’s goingon under the surface. Have you ever had an x-ray? Doctors use x-rays to seeinside your body, and conservators use x-rays to get a better understanding of how a painting was made and what condition it is in. Sometimes they can tellthat a painter has made a huge change in a painting. Look at the example here.Without the help of an x-ray, conservators would never have discovered that theartist Govert Flinck had first painted a portrait of a young man with wavy hair(above, right), and then reused the wood panel to paint the portrait of an oldman (above, left).

Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660), Bearded Man witha Velvet Cap, 164[5?]; oil on wood, 233/4 x 205/8 in.(60.3 x 52.4 cm); Bequest of Collis P. Huntington,1900 (25.110.27)

PaintingsWhat is Art Conservation?

There are so many works of art here—and so many

different kinds! How does the Museum take care of

them all? wThat’s a big question! So big that we can

only begin to answer it here. In this issue of

museumKids we look at just some of the

departments that take care of the artwork, but there

are many more. w All the works of art in the

Museum are cared for a little differently, but there

are two things that all of them need. They all need to

be kept in a certain air temperature and at a certain

level of humidity. Humidity refers to the amount of

moisture, or water, in the air. Controlling the

humidity helps prevent works of art from drying out

(and possibly cracking) or becoming damp. w Also,

works of art in the Museum’s collection are cleaned

when necessary, but different cleaners are used for

different materials—you wouldn’t use the same soap

on a wooden sarcophagus as you would on a clay

urn any more than you would clean a toy fire truck

and your cat with the same soap. w Cleaning,

preserving, and occasionally repairing works of art is

known as art conservation, and the people who do

this specialized work are called conservators. We

talked to several conservators in the Museum to find

out how different works of art are cared for. Let’s

look at some of the ways this is done.

Th

e M

etr

op

olita

n M

useu

m o

f A

rt,

Edu

catio

n10

00 F

ifth

Ave

nue,

New

Yor

k, N

Y

1002

8-01

98Te

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-570

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1, F

ax 2

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70-3

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© 2

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supp

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Foun

datio

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Fron

t: G

over

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(Dut

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615–

1660

), B

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Vel

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ail);

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art

museumkids

What is Art Conservation?

What ism

use

um

kid

s

Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660), Bearded Man with aVelvet Cap, 164[5?], X-radiograph (detail)

The paintings in the Museum are cared for by five conservators. One specializes in the structural treatment of paintings on wood panels, another in thetreatment of modern paintings. Older paintings usually have a coating ofvarnish to make the colors look richer and give the painting some protection.Most modern paintings are not protected by varnish, which can create problemsfor the conservators who are trying to take care of them.

When a painting needs treatment, it is taken to a specially designed studio in theMuseum. The studio is on the top floor of the building and receives northernlight—the same cool, steady light that painters like to use. The paintings aretreated on the same kinds of easels that painters use, too.

The conservation treatment of a painting might involve removing old discoloredvarnish, mending a tear in the canvas, or securing flaking paint. Paintingconservators use a lot of different brushes in their work, from big wide onesmade with stiff hog bristles for varnishing to soft goat hair brushes for dustingand tiny sable (fur) brushes for retouching, which means using new paint todisguise tiny amounts of damage.

Conservators can use x-ray equipment to examine paintings and see what’s goingon under the surface. Have you ever had an x-ray? Doctors use x-rays to seeinside your body, and conservators use x-rays to get a better understanding of how a painting was made and what condition it is in. Sometimes they can tellthat a painter has made a huge change in a painting. Look at the example here.Without the help of an x-ray, conservators would never have discovered that theartist Govert Flinck had first painted a portrait of a young man with wavy hair(above, right), and then reused the wood panel to paint the portrait of an oldman (above, left).

Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660), Bearded Man witha Velvet Cap, 164[5?]; oil on wood, 233/4 x 205/8 in.(60.3 x 52.4 cm); Bequest of Collis P. Huntington,1900 (25.110.27)

PaintingsWhat is Art Conservation?

There are so many works of art here—and so many

different kinds! How does the Museum take care of

them all? wThat’s a big question! So big that we can

only begin to answer it here. In this issue of

museumKids we look at just some of the

departments that take care of the artwork, but there

are many more. w All the works of art in the

Museum are cared for a little differently, but there

are two things that all of them need. They all need to

be kept in a certain air temperature and at a certain

level of humidity. Humidity refers to the amount of

moisture, or water, in the air. Controlling the

humidity helps prevent works of art from drying out

(and possibly cracking) or becoming damp. w Also,

works of art in the Museum’s collection are cleaned

when necessary, but different cleaners are used for

different materials—you wouldn’t use the same soap

on a wooden sarcophagus as you would on a clay

urn any more than you would clean a toy fire truck

and your cat with the same soap. w Cleaning,

preserving, and occasionally repairing works of art is

known as art conservation, and the people who do

this specialized work are called conservators. We

talked to several conservators in the Museum to find

out how different works of art are cared for. Let’s

look at some of the ways this is done.

Th

e M

etr

op

olita

n M

useu

m o

f A

rt,

Edu

catio

n10

00 F

ifth

Ave

nue,

New

Yor

k, N

Y

1002

8-01

98Te

l 212

-570

-396

1, F

ax 2

12-5

70-3

783

w

ww

.met

mus

eum

.org

© 2

001

The

Met

ropo

litan

Mus

eum

of

Art

muse

um

kid

sis

mad

e po

ssib

le t

hrou

gh t

he g

ener

ous

supp

ort

of t

he U

ris B

roth

ers

Foun

datio

n E

ndow

men

t.

Fron

t: G

over

t Fl

inck

(Dut

ch, 1

615–

1660

), B

eard

ed M

an w

ith a

Vel

vet

Cap

(det

ail);

Bac

k: T

he S

herm

an F

airc

hild

Cen

ter

for

Obj

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Con

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Objects

Activity

Musical Instruments

Tapestries, carpets, quilts—all thesethings are called textiles, and textileconservators take care of theseworks of art.

Wander into the medieval artgalleries on the first floor (consult aMuseum floor plan for directions onhow to get there), and you will seemany large tapestries—pictures thatwere woven rather than painted—hanging on the walls. While thetapestries are on display, conservatorsclean them regularly with a specialvacuum cleaner. They also make surethat the gallery lights are kept dimto prevent the tapestries’ colors fromfading and that the air in the gallery isclean and at the correct temperature andhumidity level. They ask the guards tomake sure that visitors do not touch thetextiles—oil and dirt from hands candamage them over time.

Sometimes several-hundred-year-oldtapestries need restoration, or repair.The conservators repair missingparts of a picture with yarns theydye themselves in many colors. Theareas restored with modern yarnsshould not be particularly noticeableto anyone looking at a tapestry, butif you look very carefully you mightsee the difference between the repairedareas and the original ones.

Textile conservators use microscopesand other equipment to identify fibers,yarns, weaves, and dyes and todetermine what restoration materialsshould be used to repair a particulartextile. They are also skilled inspinning, weaving, and sewing.

Take a trip to the Museum’s collectionof musical instruments on the secondfloor. The keyboard instruments, like the pianos and the harpsichords, are themost difficult to take care of becausethey have so many parts made ofdifferent kinds of materials. Each of the harpsichords, for instance, hasdozens of crow feathers inside. The rootof the feather is called the quill, and thisis the part that is used to pluck thestrings inside the instrument. When aquill wears out, it needs to be replaced.Perhaps most important, the instrumentsalso need to be tuned regularly. Thismeans that the strings have to becarefully tightened or loosened untilthey sound good together.

Now let’s look at the violins. The airtemperature and humidity need to

be carefully adjusted to keep theinstruments in good condition. Ifthere’s not enough moisture in the air (low humidity), the wood can dryout and crack. Because the Museum’sviolins have been kept in a controlledenvironment, few repairs have beenneeded in the past twenty-five years.

On the other side of these galleries, you’llsee instruments from many different placesaround the world, including Africa, India,and China. Find the kora from WestAfrica, an instrument that looks a little likea banjo covered with antelope hide. Youmight think that it takes some sort of fancyhigh-tech cleaner to clean a kora. Whilespecial cleaners are used, one thing thatalso sometimes works when removing astain on this kind of instrument is a softpencil eraser!

Musical instruments conservator Stewart Pollens takes care of instruments ranging from flutes anddrums to violins, like this one.

Now that you know a little about how conservators in the Museumtake care of different works of art, it’s your turn. Tell us aboutsomething you have that’s important and special to you and how youtake care of it. You can write about it, draw a picture of it, or both. Ifyou’d like, use a separate piece of paper. Don’t forget to include yourname, age, and address, so we can send you a Museum goodie.

You can send your project to:museumkids/What is Art Conservation?The Metropolitan Museum of ArtEducation1000 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY 10028-0198

What you’ve read about in this issue of museumkids explains just asmall part of what some conservators in the Museum do to take care ofall the works of art—so you can enjoy them every time you visit! Do youhave other questions about what goes on at the Museum? Let us know!

The conservators in the department ofObjects Conservation are responsible forthe care and study of three-dimensionalworks of art, or objects that can be seenfrom all sides, such as pottery, furniture,glassware, and sculpture. The Museumhas more than one million objects, whichcan be as small as a piece of jewelry—oras large as a room. The objects are madeof a variety of materials, including stone,wood, clay, and plastic. Analyzing thesematerials helps conservators understandhow the objects were made and allowsthem to take better care of them. Aspecial research laboratory in thedepartment is used for the scientificstudy of the objects.

The department of Objects Conservationhas more than forty conservators,scientists, and installers, who study,preserve, and install works of art fordisplay in the galleries. In the year2000, the department received 1,344requests for objects to be examined or treated.

The department is responsible forcleaning many works of art as well.Some are cleaned with chemicals andothers with water. Depending on whatthe objects are made of, the conservatorsuse cotton swabs, brushes, scalpels, orspecial vacuum cleaners to clean them.Cleaning an object can take anywherefrom twenty minutes to ten years. That

honor went to the study from the palaceof Duke Federico da Montefeltro inGubbio, Italy, a fifteenth-century roomon the first floor of the Museumdecorated almost entirely with inlaidwood. The biggest objects cleaned areusually architectural—like the Templeof Dendur in the Egyptian collection.

Some objects that come into theMuseum need to be fumigated. Thatmeans destroying bugs that might beeating the object—just like moths mighteat your sweater. Here’s how fumigationworks: An object is placed in a sealedplastic bag, all the air is sucked out, and the bugs suffocate.

When the objects are on display, it’s very important for them to be kept in a controlled environment. Thatmeans that they’re kept in a placewhere there are no drastic changes in the air temperature or humidity.The temperature is controlled withthermostats. Instruments calledhygrothermographs are installed inmany galleries and storerooms tomonitor the environment to see if it ischanging in any way. To control thehumidity level in a particular displaycase conservators use a substancecalled silica gel. You can’t actually seeit, but it helps take moisture out of theair and maintain a certain humiditylevel inside in the case.

Conservators at work in The Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation.

What a display case is made of is alsoimportant since works of art maycontain materials that will react badly ifthey come in contact with certain othermaterials. For example, some fabrics,such as silk, may contain a substancecalled sulfur. Sulfur causes silver totarnish, so fabrics containing sulfurwouldn’t be used to line a case containingsilver objects. Conservators test displaymaterials to see if they are suitable to beused in the cases.

Preserving and repairing the objects arealso very important. For example, if an

object, such as a clay pot, has beenburied in the ground—especially in thedesert or near the ocean—salt from the ground might seep into the object.This can cause the glaze on the surfaceof the pot to come off. Conservatorsmight soak the pot to remove the salts,or else they might apply a poultice,which acts like a wet sponge to absorbthe salts drawn to the surface. A specialglue—called an adhesive—might be usedto reapply the glaze fragments.

Textiles

Fascinating Facts

• The Museum’s textile collectionincludes more than 38,000 piecesfrom all over the world, coveringmore than 5,000 years.

• The textile collection has itsown storage room where textilesare kept at just the righttemperature and humidity.

• The smallest piece in thecollection is a fragment not muchbigger than an ordinary postagestamp—less than one squareinch. The largest is a tapestrythat measures 17 by 28 feet.

A textile conservator works on a Chinese hanging.(Photograph by Florica Zaharia)

Objects

Activity

Musical Instruments

Tapestries, carpets, quilts—all thesethings are called textiles, and textileconservators take care of theseworks of art.

Wander into the medieval artgalleries on the first floor (consult aMuseum floor plan for directions onhow to get there), and you will seemany large tapestries—pictures thatwere woven rather than painted—hanging on the walls. While thetapestries are on display, conservatorsclean them regularly with a specialvacuum cleaner. They also make surethat the gallery lights are kept dimto prevent the tapestries’ colors fromfading and that the air in the gallery isclean and at the correct temperature andhumidity level. They ask the guards tomake sure that visitors do not touch thetextiles—oil and dirt from hands candamage them over time.

Sometimes several-hundred-year-oldtapestries need restoration, or repair.The conservators repair missingparts of a picture with yarns theydye themselves in many colors. Theareas restored with modern yarnsshould not be particularly noticeableto anyone looking at a tapestry, butif you look very carefully you mightsee the difference between the repairedareas and the original ones.

Textile conservators use microscopesand other equipment to identify fibers,yarns, weaves, and dyes and todetermine what restoration materialsshould be used to repair a particulartextile. They are also skilled inspinning, weaving, and sewing.

Take a trip to the Museum’s collectionof musical instruments on the secondfloor. The keyboard instruments, like the pianos and the harpsichords, are themost difficult to take care of becausethey have so many parts made ofdifferent kinds of materials. Each of the harpsichords, for instance, hasdozens of crow feathers inside. The rootof the feather is called the quill, and thisis the part that is used to pluck thestrings inside the instrument. When aquill wears out, it needs to be replaced.Perhaps most important, the instrumentsalso need to be tuned regularly. Thismeans that the strings have to becarefully tightened or loosened untilthey sound good together.

Now let’s look at the violins. The airtemperature and humidity need to

be carefully adjusted to keep theinstruments in good condition. Ifthere’s not enough moisture in the air (low humidity), the wood can dryout and crack. Because the Museum’sviolins have been kept in a controlledenvironment, few repairs have beenneeded in the past twenty-five years.

On the other side of these galleries, you’llsee instruments from many different placesaround the world, including Africa, India,and China. Find the kora from WestAfrica, an instrument that looks a little likea banjo covered with antelope hide. Youmight think that it takes some sort of fancyhigh-tech cleaner to clean a kora. Whilespecial cleaners are used, one thing thatalso sometimes works when removing astain on this kind of instrument is a softpencil eraser!

Musical instruments conservator Stewart Pollens takes care of instruments ranging from flutes anddrums to violins, like this one.

Now that you know a little about how conservators in the Museumtake care of different works of art, it’s your turn. Tell us aboutsomething you have that’s important and special to you and how youtake care of it. You can write about it, draw a picture of it, or both. Ifyou’d like, use a separate piece of paper. Don’t forget to include yourname, age, and address, so we can send you a Museum goodie.

You can send your project to:museumkids/What is Art Conservation?The Metropolitan Museum of ArtEducation1000 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY 10028-0198

What you’ve read about in this issue of museumkids explains just asmall part of what some conservators in the Museum do to take care ofall the works of art—so you can enjoy them every time you visit! Do youhave other questions about what goes on at the Museum? Let us know!

The conservators in the department ofObjects Conservation are responsible forthe care and study of three-dimensionalworks of art, or objects that can be seenfrom all sides, such as pottery, furniture,glassware, and sculpture. The Museumhas more than one million objects, whichcan be as small as a piece of jewelry—oras large as a room. The objects are madeof a variety of materials, including stone,wood, clay, and plastic. Analyzing thesematerials helps conservators understandhow the objects were made and allowsthem to take better care of them. Aspecial research laboratory in thedepartment is used for the scientificstudy of the objects.

The department of Objects Conservationhas more than forty conservators,scientists, and installers, who study,preserve, and install works of art fordisplay in the galleries. In the year2000, the department received 1,344requests for objects to be examined or treated.

The department is responsible forcleaning many works of art as well.Some are cleaned with chemicals andothers with water. Depending on whatthe objects are made of, the conservatorsuse cotton swabs, brushes, scalpels, orspecial vacuum cleaners to clean them.Cleaning an object can take anywherefrom twenty minutes to ten years. That

honor went to the study from the palaceof Duke Federico da Montefeltro inGubbio, Italy, a fifteenth-century roomon the first floor of the Museumdecorated almost entirely with inlaidwood. The biggest objects cleaned areusually architectural—like the Templeof Dendur in the Egyptian collection.

Some objects that come into theMuseum need to be fumigated. Thatmeans destroying bugs that might beeating the object—just like moths mighteat your sweater. Here’s how fumigationworks: An object is placed in a sealedplastic bag, all the air is sucked out, and the bugs suffocate.

When the objects are on display, it’s very important for them to be kept in a controlled environment. Thatmeans that they’re kept in a placewhere there are no drastic changes in the air temperature or humidity.The temperature is controlled withthermostats. Instruments calledhygrothermographs are installed inmany galleries and storerooms tomonitor the environment to see if it ischanging in any way. To control thehumidity level in a particular displaycase conservators use a substancecalled silica gel. You can’t actually seeit, but it helps take moisture out of theair and maintain a certain humiditylevel inside in the case.

Conservators at work in The Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation.

What a display case is made of is alsoimportant since works of art maycontain materials that will react badly ifthey come in contact with certain othermaterials. For example, some fabrics,such as silk, may contain a substancecalled sulfur. Sulfur causes silver totarnish, so fabrics containing sulfurwouldn’t be used to line a case containingsilver objects. Conservators test displaymaterials to see if they are suitable to beused in the cases.

Preserving and repairing the objects arealso very important. For example, if an

object, such as a clay pot, has beenburied in the ground—especially in thedesert or near the ocean—salt from the ground might seep into the object.This can cause the glaze on the surfaceof the pot to come off. Conservatorsmight soak the pot to remove the salts,or else they might apply a poultice,which acts like a wet sponge to absorbthe salts drawn to the surface. A specialglue—called an adhesive—might be usedto reapply the glaze fragments.

Textiles

Fascinating Facts

• The Museum’s textile collectionincludes more than 38,000 piecesfrom all over the world, coveringmore than 5,000 years.

• The textile collection has itsown storage room where textilesare kept at just the righttemperature and humidity.

• The smallest piece in thecollection is a fragment not muchbigger than an ordinary postagestamp—less than one squareinch. The largest is a tapestrythat measures 17 by 28 feet.

A textile conservator works on a Chinese hanging.(Photograph by Florica Zaharia)

Objects

Activity

Musical Instruments

Tapestries, carpets, quilts—all thesethings are called textiles, and textileconservators take care of theseworks of art.

Wander into the medieval artgalleries on the first floor (consult aMuseum floor plan for directions onhow to get there), and you will seemany large tapestries—pictures thatwere woven rather than painted—hanging on the walls. While thetapestries are on display, conservatorsclean them regularly with a specialvacuum cleaner. They also make surethat the gallery lights are kept dimto prevent the tapestries’ colors fromfading and that the air in the gallery isclean and at the correct temperature andhumidity level. They ask the guards tomake sure that visitors do not touch thetextiles—oil and dirt from hands candamage them over time.

Sometimes several-hundred-year-oldtapestries need restoration, or repair.The conservators repair missingparts of a picture with yarns theydye themselves in many colors. Theareas restored with modern yarnsshould not be particularly noticeableto anyone looking at a tapestry, butif you look very carefully you mightsee the difference between the repairedareas and the original ones.

Textile conservators use microscopesand other equipment to identify fibers,yarns, weaves, and dyes and todetermine what restoration materialsshould be used to repair a particulartextile. They are also skilled inspinning, weaving, and sewing.

Take a trip to the Museum’s collectionof musical instruments on the secondfloor. The keyboard instruments, like the pianos and the harpsichords, are themost difficult to take care of becausethey have so many parts made ofdifferent kinds of materials. Each of the harpsichords, for instance, hasdozens of crow feathers inside. The rootof the feather is called the quill, and thisis the part that is used to pluck thestrings inside the instrument. When aquill wears out, it needs to be replaced.Perhaps most important, the instrumentsalso need to be tuned regularly. Thismeans that the strings have to becarefully tightened or loosened untilthey sound good together.

Now let’s look at the violins. The airtemperature and humidity need to

be carefully adjusted to keep theinstruments in good condition. Ifthere’s not enough moisture in the air (low humidity), the wood can dryout and crack. Because the Museum’sviolins have been kept in a controlledenvironment, few repairs have beenneeded in the past twenty-five years.

On the other side of these galleries, you’llsee instruments from many different placesaround the world, including Africa, India,and China. Find the kora from WestAfrica, an instrument that looks a little likea banjo covered with antelope hide. Youmight think that it takes some sort of fancyhigh-tech cleaner to clean a kora. Whilespecial cleaners are used, one thing thatalso sometimes works when removing astain on this kind of instrument is a softpencil eraser!

Musical instruments conservator Stewart Pollens takes care of instruments ranging from flutes anddrums to violins, like this one.

Now that you know a little about how conservators in the Museumtake care of different works of art, it’s your turn. Tell us aboutsomething you have that’s important and special to you and how youtake care of it. You can write about it, draw a picture of it, or both. Ifyou’d like, use a separate piece of paper. Don’t forget to include yourname, age, and address, so we can send you a Museum goodie.

You can send your project to:museumkids/What is Art Conservation?The Metropolitan Museum of ArtEducation1000 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY 10028-0198

What you’ve read about in this issue of museumkids explains just asmall part of what some conservators in the Museum do to take care ofall the works of art—so you can enjoy them every time you visit! Do youhave other questions about what goes on at the Museum? Let us know!

The conservators in the department ofObjects Conservation are responsible forthe care and study of three-dimensionalworks of art, or objects that can be seenfrom all sides, such as pottery, furniture,glassware, and sculpture. The Museumhas more than one million objects, whichcan be as small as a piece of jewelry—oras large as a room. The objects are madeof a variety of materials, including stone,wood, clay, and plastic. Analyzing thesematerials helps conservators understandhow the objects were made and allowsthem to take better care of them. Aspecial research laboratory in thedepartment is used for the scientificstudy of the objects.

The department of Objects Conservationhas more than forty conservators,scientists, and installers, who study,preserve, and install works of art fordisplay in the galleries. In the year2000, the department received 1,344requests for objects to be examined or treated.

The department is responsible forcleaning many works of art as well.Some are cleaned with chemicals andothers with water. Depending on whatthe objects are made of, the conservatorsuse cotton swabs, brushes, scalpels, orspecial vacuum cleaners to clean them.Cleaning an object can take anywherefrom twenty minutes to ten years. That

honor went to the study from the palaceof Duke Federico da Montefeltro inGubbio, Italy, a fifteenth-century roomon the first floor of the Museumdecorated almost entirely with inlaidwood. The biggest objects cleaned areusually architectural—like the Templeof Dendur in the Egyptian collection.

Some objects that come into theMuseum need to be fumigated. Thatmeans destroying bugs that might beeating the object—just like moths mighteat your sweater. Here’s how fumigationworks: An object is placed in a sealedplastic bag, all the air is sucked out, and the bugs suffocate.

When the objects are on display, it’s very important for them to be kept in a controlled environment. Thatmeans that they’re kept in a placewhere there are no drastic changes in the air temperature or humidity.The temperature is controlled withthermostats. Instruments calledhygrothermographs are installed inmany galleries and storerooms tomonitor the environment to see if it ischanging in any way. To control thehumidity level in a particular displaycase conservators use a substancecalled silica gel. You can’t actually seeit, but it helps take moisture out of theair and maintain a certain humiditylevel inside in the case.

Conservators at work in The Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation.

What a display case is made of is alsoimportant since works of art maycontain materials that will react badly ifthey come in contact with certain othermaterials. For example, some fabrics,such as silk, may contain a substancecalled sulfur. Sulfur causes silver totarnish, so fabrics containing sulfurwouldn’t be used to line a case containingsilver objects. Conservators test displaymaterials to see if they are suitable to beused in the cases.

Preserving and repairing the objects arealso very important. For example, if an

object, such as a clay pot, has beenburied in the ground—especially in thedesert or near the ocean—salt from the ground might seep into the object.This can cause the glaze on the surfaceof the pot to come off. Conservatorsmight soak the pot to remove the salts,or else they might apply a poultice,which acts like a wet sponge to absorbthe salts drawn to the surface. A specialglue—called an adhesive—might be usedto reapply the glaze fragments.

Textiles

Fascinating Facts

• The Museum’s textile collectionincludes more than 38,000 piecesfrom all over the world, coveringmore than 5,000 years.

• The textile collection has itsown storage room where textilesare kept at just the righttemperature and humidity.

• The smallest piece in thecollection is a fragment not muchbigger than an ordinary postagestamp—less than one squareinch. The largest is a tapestrythat measures 17 by 28 feet.

A textile conservator works on a Chinese hanging.(Photograph by Florica Zaharia)

Objects

Activity

Musical Instruments

Tapestries, carpets, quilts—all thesethings are called textiles, and textileconservators take care of theseworks of art.

Wander into the medieval artgalleries on the first floor (consult aMuseum floor plan for directions onhow to get there), and you will seemany large tapestries—pictures thatwere woven rather than painted—hanging on the walls. While thetapestries are on display, conservatorsclean them regularly with a specialvacuum cleaner. They also make surethat the gallery lights are kept dimto prevent the tapestries’ colors fromfading and that the air in the gallery isclean and at the correct temperature andhumidity level. They ask the guards tomake sure that visitors do not touch thetextiles—oil and dirt from hands candamage them over time.

Sometimes several-hundred-year-oldtapestries need restoration, or repair.The conservators repair missingparts of a picture with yarns theydye themselves in many colors. Theareas restored with modern yarnsshould not be particularly noticeableto anyone looking at a tapestry, butif you look very carefully you mightsee the difference between the repairedareas and the original ones.

Textile conservators use microscopesand other equipment to identify fibers,yarns, weaves, and dyes and todetermine what restoration materialsshould be used to repair a particulartextile. They are also skilled inspinning, weaving, and sewing.

Take a trip to the Museum’s collectionof musical instruments on the secondfloor. The keyboard instruments, like the pianos and the harpsichords, are themost difficult to take care of becausethey have so many parts made ofdifferent kinds of materials. Each of the harpsichords, for instance, hasdozens of crow feathers inside. The rootof the feather is called the quill, and thisis the part that is used to pluck thestrings inside the instrument. When aquill wears out, it needs to be replaced.Perhaps most important, the instrumentsalso need to be tuned regularly. Thismeans that the strings have to becarefully tightened or loosened untilthey sound good together.

Now let’s look at the violins. The airtemperature and humidity need to

be carefully adjusted to keep theinstruments in good condition. Ifthere’s not enough moisture in the air (low humidity), the wood can dryout and crack. Because the Museum’sviolins have been kept in a controlledenvironment, few repairs have beenneeded in the past twenty-five years.

On the other side of these galleries, you’llsee instruments from many different placesaround the world, including Africa, India,and China. Find the kora from WestAfrica, an instrument that looks a little likea banjo covered with antelope hide. Youmight think that it takes some sort of fancyhigh-tech cleaner to clean a kora. Whilespecial cleaners are used, one thing thatalso sometimes works when removing astain on this kind of instrument is a softpencil eraser!

Musical instruments conservator Stewart Pollens takes care of instruments ranging from flutes anddrums to violins, like this one.

Now that you know a little about how conservators in the Museumtake care of different works of art, it’s your turn. Tell us aboutsomething you have that’s important and special to you and how youtake care of it. You can write about it, draw a picture of it, or both. Ifyou’d like, use a separate piece of paper. Don’t forget to include yourname, age, and address, so we can send you a Museum goodie.

You can send your project to:museumkids/What is Art Conservation?The Metropolitan Museum of ArtEducation1000 Fifth AvenueNew York, NY 10028-0198

What you’ve read about in this issue of museumkids explains just asmall part of what some conservators in the Museum do to take care ofall the works of art—so you can enjoy them every time you visit! Do youhave other questions about what goes on at the Museum? Let us know!

The conservators in the department ofObjects Conservation are responsible forthe care and study of three-dimensionalworks of art, or objects that can be seenfrom all sides, such as pottery, furniture,glassware, and sculpture. The Museumhas more than one million objects, whichcan be as small as a piece of jewelry—oras large as a room. The objects are madeof a variety of materials, including stone,wood, clay, and plastic. Analyzing thesematerials helps conservators understandhow the objects were made and allowsthem to take better care of them. Aspecial research laboratory in thedepartment is used for the scientificstudy of the objects.

The department of Objects Conservationhas more than forty conservators,scientists, and installers, who study,preserve, and install works of art fordisplay in the galleries. In the year2000, the department received 1,344requests for objects to be examined or treated.

The department is responsible forcleaning many works of art as well.Some are cleaned with chemicals andothers with water. Depending on whatthe objects are made of, the conservatorsuse cotton swabs, brushes, scalpels, orspecial vacuum cleaners to clean them.Cleaning an object can take anywherefrom twenty minutes to ten years. That

honor went to the study from the palaceof Duke Federico da Montefeltro inGubbio, Italy, a fifteenth-century roomon the first floor of the Museumdecorated almost entirely with inlaidwood. The biggest objects cleaned areusually architectural—like the Templeof Dendur in the Egyptian collection.

Some objects that come into theMuseum need to be fumigated. Thatmeans destroying bugs that might beeating the object—just like moths mighteat your sweater. Here’s how fumigationworks: An object is placed in a sealedplastic bag, all the air is sucked out, and the bugs suffocate.

When the objects are on display, it’s very important for them to be kept in a controlled environment. Thatmeans that they’re kept in a placewhere there are no drastic changes in the air temperature or humidity.The temperature is controlled withthermostats. Instruments calledhygrothermographs are installed inmany galleries and storerooms tomonitor the environment to see if it ischanging in any way. To control thehumidity level in a particular displaycase conservators use a substancecalled silica gel. You can’t actually seeit, but it helps take moisture out of theair and maintain a certain humiditylevel inside in the case.

Conservators at work in The Sherman Fairchild Center for Objects Conservation.

What a display case is made of is alsoimportant since works of art maycontain materials that will react badly ifthey come in contact with certain othermaterials. For example, some fabrics,such as silk, may contain a substancecalled sulfur. Sulfur causes silver totarnish, so fabrics containing sulfurwouldn’t be used to line a case containingsilver objects. Conservators test displaymaterials to see if they are suitable to beused in the cases.

Preserving and repairing the objects arealso very important. For example, if an

object, such as a clay pot, has beenburied in the ground—especially in thedesert or near the ocean—salt from the ground might seep into the object.This can cause the glaze on the surfaceof the pot to come off. Conservatorsmight soak the pot to remove the salts,or else they might apply a poultice,which acts like a wet sponge to absorbthe salts drawn to the surface. A specialglue—called an adhesive—might be usedto reapply the glaze fragments.

Textiles

Fascinating Facts

• The Museum’s textile collectionincludes more than 38,000 piecesfrom all over the world, coveringmore than 5,000 years.

• The textile collection has itsown storage room where textilesare kept at just the righttemperature and humidity.

• The smallest piece in thecollection is a fragment not muchbigger than an ordinary postagestamp—less than one squareinch. The largest is a tapestrythat measures 17 by 28 feet.

A textile conservator works on a Chinese hanging.(Photograph by Florica Zaharia)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

museumkids

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Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660), Bearded Man with aVelvet Cap, 164[5?], X-radiograph (detail)

The paintings in the Museum are cared for by five conservators. One specializes in the structural treatment of paintings on wood panels, another in thetreatment of modern paintings. Older paintings usually have a coating ofvarnish to make the colors look richer and give the painting some protection.Most modern paintings are not protected by varnish, which can create problemsfor the conservators who are trying to take care of them.

When a painting needs treatment, it is taken to a specially designed studio in theMuseum. The studio is on the top floor of the building and receives northernlight—the same cool, steady light that painters like to use. The paintings aretreated on the same kinds of easels that painters use, too.

The conservation treatment of a painting might involve removing old discoloredvarnish, mending a tear in the canvas, or securing flaking paint. Paintingconservators use a lot of different brushes in their work, from big wide onesmade with stiff hog bristles for varnishing to soft goat hair brushes for dustingand tiny sable (fur) brushes for retouching, which means using new paint todisguise tiny amounts of damage.

Conservators can use x-ray equipment to examine paintings and see what’s goingon under the surface. Have you ever had an x-ray? Doctors use x-rays to seeinside your body, and conservators use x-rays to get a better understanding of how a painting was made and what condition it is in. Sometimes they can tellthat a painter has made a huge change in a painting. Look at the example here.Without the help of an x-ray, conservators would never have discovered that theartist Govert Flinck had first painted a portrait of a young man with wavy hair(above, right), and then reused the wood panel to paint the portrait of an oldman (above, left).

Govert Flinck (Dutch, 1615–1660), Bearded Man witha Velvet Cap, 164[5?]; oil on wood, 233/4 x 205/8 in.(60.3 x 52.4 cm); Bequest of Collis P. Huntington,1900 (25.110.27)

PaintingsWhat is Art Conservation?

There are so many works of art here—and so many

different kinds! How does the Museum take care of

them all? wThat’s a big question! So big that we can

only begin to answer it here. In this issue of

museumKids we look at just some of the

departments that take care of the artwork, but there

are many more. w All the works of art in the

Museum are cared for a little differently, but there

are two things that all of them need. They all need to

be kept in a certain air temperature and at a certain

level of humidity. Humidity refers to the amount of

moisture, or water, in the air. Controlling the

humidity helps prevent works of art from drying out

(and possibly cracking) or becoming damp. w Also,

works of art in the Museum’s collection are cleaned

when necessary, but different cleaners are used for

different materials—you wouldn’t use the same soap

on a wooden sarcophagus as you would on a clay

urn any more than you would clean a toy fire truck

and your cat with the same soap. w Cleaning,

preserving, and occasionally repairing works of art is

known as art conservation, and the people who do

this specialized work are called conservators. We

talked to several conservators in the Museum to find

out how different works of art are cared for. Let’s

look at some of the ways this is done.

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