Victoria

摘要

The July Technical meeting had the intriguing presentation title "What's wrong with dirty pictures?" and a sizable audience was in attendance to learn the answer. Anthony called the meeting to order and introduced the speaker, Ms Caroline Fry, who is a painting conservator at The Centre for Cultural Materials Conservation (CCMC). The CCMC has the responsibility for conservation of the University of Melbourne's vast collections of cultural material and also provides commercial conservation programs. Caroline has been recognised by the Republic of Vietnam for the work she did to preserve a very significant painting in their collection. Caroline then took the floor to commence her presentation. The first issue Caroline raised was how to interpret what the original artist's intent was with the work of art as ageing can, and will, change the viewer's perception of the art, and hence its intent. For example, the "Old Master's Glow" seen in art galleries is really the varnish turning yellow with time, and perhaps even picking up particulate matter, and this can compromise the look of the painting and change the impact on the viewer.