Slow Conservation
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Slow Conservation
by isabelle brajer on Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:54 pm
As many people I know, I also have a somewhat untidy desk, but I know where anything of importance is: in the IMPORTANT papers pile, also called I MUST GET BACK TO THIS pile. Occasionally, I’ll go through this stack and then I’m reminded of publications I should read (or have skimmed and want to read more carefully), and ideas I have for projects and articles. Recently, I extracted an issue of Studies in Conservation from last year where Sarah Staniforth wrote an essay about Slow Conservation, applying the concept of the slow movement (Slow Food, Slow Travel) to conservation (Volume 55 Number 2 2010). For Sarah, slow conservation is manifested through preventive conservation and strengthening long-term sustainability of museums by increasing the value the public place on them, building up engagement through conservation.
I remember thinking when I first read this essay: Wow, that’s not what I think of when I ponder over the term Slow Conservation. For me, Slow Conservation actually has to do with the tempo of conservation work, and is the opposite of what is going on now. I’m referring to the negative effects of running a Conservation Department in a museum as an income generating entity: the billing of hours to clients; the packed schedule of one project after the other to provide enough billable hours to fill in one’s monthly time-sheet; the lack of time to veer off an established plan, which might affect the project’s allocated budget; the client-dictated deadlines, usually having to do with finishing conservation projects in time for a special occasion, such as getting the scaffolding out of the church in time for Christmas.
I imagined that things were different in the past. As a wall paintings conservator constantly on the move, it was heart-warming to read about one of my predecessors employed at the National Museum of Denmark, Egmont Lind (active 1926-1966), who travelled from site to site in a horse-drawn gypsy caravan, in which he lived with his wife and infant son. I smiled to read his letter informing the priest at the next church where he was to restore paintings that it would take him a week to move the caravan (the distance could be covered in a little over 1 hour by car nowadays). Wall paintings in medieval churches in Denmark had always been under the care of the National Museum, and until about 1950, the funds for conservation were provided by the government, as this was the cultural heritage of the nation. Those were the good old days – the era of Slow Conservation. No competitive bidding. No “see how cheaply I can restore your paintings” syndrome, equating conservation operations in the eyes of the general public to outsourceable mechanical skills on par with plumbing.
I was wrong. Things were not so rosy in the past. My current research on conservation in the nineteenth century (in preparation for the CiNC conference) has revealed a different picture. Until about 1930, conservators were hired by the museum on freelance basis. Due to unfavorable working conditions in the churches during winter, conservation projects took place between April and October (nowadays, we have electric heaters, and work year round). Conservators, therefore, had to earn as much money as possible during the working season. Notebooks kept by the leading nineteenth century wall paintings conservator (who also worked as an archeological draughtsman for the museum), Jacob Kornerup (active 1862-1904) (fig. 1), testify to his busy work schedule.
Fig. 1. A photograph of Jacob Kornerup from 1900, when he was 75 years old, and still working as a conservator. (Photo: Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
For example, these are the activities recorded for 1887, when he was 62 years old: At the beginning of April, Kornerup worked at the excavation site at Vor Frue Church in Roskilde, where he took notes and made measurements of foundations. Between April 4-6th he took an inventory of the contents and searched for wall paintings under the limewash in Alminde Church in preparation for its renovation, and wrote a report on his findings. Returning by way of Odense, he took the time to draw the decorative woodwork on the façade of a house in his notebook. On April 14th, he was back at the excavation at Vor Frue Church, making more notes and drawings, including a grave containing a skeleton (fig. 2).
Fig. 2. A page from Kornerup's notebook from 1887 with sketches from the excavation at Vor Frue Church. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
On April 19th he gave a lecture at the Historical Society in Copenhagen on the wall paintings he had uncovered and documented the previous summer in Ørslev Church. From May 23 to June 2, he restored the wall paintings in Søborg together with his assistant, Peter Rahbek. In the middle of June (16-17), Kornerup conducted the investigation, searching for the presence of paintings under the limewash on the vaults in the nave in Jørlunde Church, with the help of two men to move the ladders. He also wrote a report and made 3 watercolours of the decoration he found (fig. 3).
Fig. 3. Decoration of the ribs in Jørlunde Church, found by Kornerup in June of 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
Between July 6-9, Kornerup conducted an investigation on the vaults in Herlev with the help of two men to help remove the limewash and move ladders. This was also followed up with a report and two watercolour drawings (fig. 4). Then he travelled to Gørløse (July 15-19) to conduct the investigation (with the help of 1 man), and made 3 watercolours (fig. 5).
Fig. 4. The scene of the Holy Trinity, found by Kornerup i Herlev Church in July 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
Fig. 5. A watercolour of the wall paintings found by Kornerup in Gørløse Church in July 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
On July 20th, he was in Uvelse Church making an investigation, primarily taking notes and sketching the architectural details. On his way to Femø Church in August, he stopped in Hvalsø Church, where he took notes and made recommendations regarding the restoration of the antepedium and antemensale (he recommended his colleague Magnus-Petersen). The investigation of the wall paintings in Femø took place between August 18-21, and produced three watercolour drawings and a report (fig. 6).
Fig. 6. A watercolour of the paintings found by Kornerup in Femø Church in August 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
Between August 24 and September 3, Kornerup and Rahbek restored the paintings in Hørve. This was followed by the restoration, also with Rahbek, of the paintings in Gørløse, which took place between Sept. 8 and October 1. Leaving Rahbek in Gørløse, Kornerup interrupted his work there, and returned to Uvelse, where he made more sketches and measurements of the tower. After Gørløse was finished, Kornerup restored the painting in the niche in Stenlille Church (fig. 7), then he conducted the investigation in Førslev, extending the work uncharacteristically into November. Finally, on December 12th (the only occasion when Kornerup seems to have worked so late), he was asked to inspect the foundations of an old building that were found in a field outside of Holbæk.
Fig. 7. A watercolour of the painting in Stenlille, restored by Kornerup in October 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
Kornerup’s notebooks are filled with bookkeeping scribbling that allows us to create a partial picture of the business side of conservation in the 19th century, and confirms the shockingly (for contemporary conservators) fast tempo. The restoration of the decoration on the walls in the chancel in Tirsted in 1892, for example, was completed by Kornerup and Rahbek in 12½ days. The re-restoration of the same paintings took place in 1999-2000 and involved the work of two conservators for 1½ years, and included cleaning, removal and replacement of Kornerup’s plaster repairs, desalination of the salt-infested original plaster, and retouching with a cross-hatching technique. The paintings on three vaults in Vigersted Church were restored by Kornerup and Rahbek over the course of 21 days in May in 1891, directly after which they proceeded to Over Dråby and restored four fully decorated vaults in 6 weeks.
Not much Slow Conservation there. I guess my prize for Slow Conservation still stays in Milan, where the remarkable re-restoration of Leonardo’s Last Supper took place over twenty years (1979-1999), headed by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon. I had the opportunity to visit the site in October 1991, and I remember admiring the elegant and collected presence of the conservator as she demonstrated how she cleaned a small area of a few square centimeters in one day. She might have been under pressure and felt stressed about the responsibility of her job, but it didn’t show.
Isabelle
I remember thinking when I first read this essay: Wow, that’s not what I think of when I ponder over the term Slow Conservation. For me, Slow Conservation actually has to do with the tempo of conservation work, and is the opposite of what is going on now. I’m referring to the negative effects of running a Conservation Department in a museum as an income generating entity: the billing of hours to clients; the packed schedule of one project after the other to provide enough billable hours to fill in one’s monthly time-sheet; the lack of time to veer off an established plan, which might affect the project’s allocated budget; the client-dictated deadlines, usually having to do with finishing conservation projects in time for a special occasion, such as getting the scaffolding out of the church in time for Christmas.
I imagined that things were different in the past. As a wall paintings conservator constantly on the move, it was heart-warming to read about one of my predecessors employed at the National Museum of Denmark, Egmont Lind (active 1926-1966), who travelled from site to site in a horse-drawn gypsy caravan, in which he lived with his wife and infant son. I smiled to read his letter informing the priest at the next church where he was to restore paintings that it would take him a week to move the caravan (the distance could be covered in a little over 1 hour by car nowadays). Wall paintings in medieval churches in Denmark had always been under the care of the National Museum, and until about 1950, the funds for conservation were provided by the government, as this was the cultural heritage of the nation. Those were the good old days – the era of Slow Conservation. No competitive bidding. No “see how cheaply I can restore your paintings” syndrome, equating conservation operations in the eyes of the general public to outsourceable mechanical skills on par with plumbing.
I was wrong. Things were not so rosy in the past. My current research on conservation in the nineteenth century (in preparation for the CiNC conference) has revealed a different picture. Until about 1930, conservators were hired by the museum on freelance basis. Due to unfavorable working conditions in the churches during winter, conservation projects took place between April and October (nowadays, we have electric heaters, and work year round). Conservators, therefore, had to earn as much money as possible during the working season. Notebooks kept by the leading nineteenth century wall paintings conservator (who also worked as an archeological draughtsman for the museum), Jacob Kornerup (active 1862-1904) (fig. 1), testify to his busy work schedule.
Fig. 1. A photograph of Jacob Kornerup from 1900, when he was 75 years old, and still working as a conservator. (Photo: Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
For example, these are the activities recorded for 1887, when he was 62 years old: At the beginning of April, Kornerup worked at the excavation site at Vor Frue Church in Roskilde, where he took notes and made measurements of foundations. Between April 4-6th he took an inventory of the contents and searched for wall paintings under the limewash in Alminde Church in preparation for its renovation, and wrote a report on his findings. Returning by way of Odense, he took the time to draw the decorative woodwork on the façade of a house in his notebook. On April 14th, he was back at the excavation at Vor Frue Church, making more notes and drawings, including a grave containing a skeleton (fig. 2).
Fig. 2. A page from Kornerup's notebook from 1887 with sketches from the excavation at Vor Frue Church. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
On April 19th he gave a lecture at the Historical Society in Copenhagen on the wall paintings he had uncovered and documented the previous summer in Ørslev Church. From May 23 to June 2, he restored the wall paintings in Søborg together with his assistant, Peter Rahbek. In the middle of June (16-17), Kornerup conducted the investigation, searching for the presence of paintings under the limewash on the vaults in the nave in Jørlunde Church, with the help of two men to move the ladders. He also wrote a report and made 3 watercolours of the decoration he found (fig. 3).
Fig. 3. Decoration of the ribs in Jørlunde Church, found by Kornerup in June of 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
Between July 6-9, Kornerup conducted an investigation on the vaults in Herlev with the help of two men to help remove the limewash and move ladders. This was also followed up with a report and two watercolour drawings (fig. 4). Then he travelled to Gørløse (July 15-19) to conduct the investigation (with the help of 1 man), and made 3 watercolours (fig. 5).
Fig. 4. The scene of the Holy Trinity, found by Kornerup i Herlev Church in July 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
Fig. 5. A watercolour of the wall paintings found by Kornerup in Gørløse Church in July 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
On July 20th, he was in Uvelse Church making an investigation, primarily taking notes and sketching the architectural details. On his way to Femø Church in August, he stopped in Hvalsø Church, where he took notes and made recommendations regarding the restoration of the antepedium and antemensale (he recommended his colleague Magnus-Petersen). The investigation of the wall paintings in Femø took place between August 18-21, and produced three watercolour drawings and a report (fig. 6).
Fig. 6. A watercolour of the paintings found by Kornerup in Femø Church in August 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
Between August 24 and September 3, Kornerup and Rahbek restored the paintings in Hørve. This was followed by the restoration, also with Rahbek, of the paintings in Gørløse, which took place between Sept. 8 and October 1. Leaving Rahbek in Gørløse, Kornerup interrupted his work there, and returned to Uvelse, where he made more sketches and measurements of the tower. After Gørløse was finished, Kornerup restored the painting in the niche in Stenlille Church (fig. 7), then he conducted the investigation in Førslev, extending the work uncharacteristically into November. Finally, on December 12th (the only occasion when Kornerup seems to have worked so late), he was asked to inspect the foundations of an old building that were found in a field outside of Holbæk.
Fig. 7. A watercolour of the painting in Stenlille, restored by Kornerup in October 1887. (Archive of the National Museum of Denmark).
Kornerup’s notebooks are filled with bookkeeping scribbling that allows us to create a partial picture of the business side of conservation in the 19th century, and confirms the shockingly (for contemporary conservators) fast tempo. The restoration of the decoration on the walls in the chancel in Tirsted in 1892, for example, was completed by Kornerup and Rahbek in 12½ days. The re-restoration of the same paintings took place in 1999-2000 and involved the work of two conservators for 1½ years, and included cleaning, removal and replacement of Kornerup’s plaster repairs, desalination of the salt-infested original plaster, and retouching with a cross-hatching technique. The paintings on three vaults in Vigersted Church were restored by Kornerup and Rahbek over the course of 21 days in May in 1891, directly after which they proceeded to Over Dråby and restored four fully decorated vaults in 6 weeks.
Not much Slow Conservation there. I guess my prize for Slow Conservation still stays in Milan, where the remarkable re-restoration of Leonardo’s Last Supper took place over twenty years (1979-1999), headed by Pinin Brambilla Barcilon. I had the opportunity to visit the site in October 1991, and I remember admiring the elegant and collected presence of the conservator as she demonstrated how she cleaned a small area of a few square centimeters in one day. She might have been under pressure and felt stressed about the responsibility of her job, but it didn’t show.
Isabelle
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