Oct 6, 2017

Photos and text by Lloyd Fox

: Amaris Sturm an intern in the objects conservation lab at the Walters Art Museum, carefully cleans and stabilizes a 16th century frame and painting, focusing on the detailed enamel on the frame. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Eric Gordon the Head of Paint Conservation at The Walters Art Museum, works on one of three large Italian Rennaisance panel paintings dating from 1460-1470 and will soon be on display at the museum. The conservation of the paintings have been ongoing for the last six years. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: The objects lab is one of the conservation labs at the Walters Art Museum. Trained conservators clean and preserve historical artifacts at the museum. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: A conservator works on a late 19th century Russian Kovsh with an Imperial Eagle. The dish was used as a communal drinking dish for honey based liquor and the double headed cast gold applique eagle on the handle which is decorated with diamonds, emeralds and rubies. It is being cleaned with precipitated chalk with water. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Pamela Betts a senior paintings conservator demonstrates how they use an infrared camera to do reflectography. They can see the underdrawing of the painting which can show the original drawings the artist made before the painting was started. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Eric Gordon the Head of Paint Conservation at The Walters Art Museum, works on one of three large Italian Rennaisance panel paintings dating from 1460-1470 and will soon be on display at the museum. The conservation of the paintings have been ongoing for the last six years. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Eric Gordon Head of Paint Conservation at The Walters Art Museum, works on gold leaf restoration to one of three large Italian Rennaisance panel paintings dating from 1460-1470 and will soon be on display at the museum. The conservation of the paintings have been ongoing for the last six years. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Haemin Park an intern in the painting conservation lab at The Walters Art Museum uses a microscope to analyze the detail on an oil painting by artist, George Romney that dates between 1784-1786. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Cathie Magee a Mellon Fellow at the Walters Art Museum, takes apart a 12th century St. Francis missal which she is helping to conserve as part of her fellowship. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Glenn Gates is a Conservation Scientist at the Walters Art Museum and is pictured by mummy portraits made on Beechwood and LInden wood that date to 130-300 AD. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Cathie Magee a Mellon Fellow Walters Art Museum, takes apart a 12th century St. Francis missal which she is helping to conserve as part of her fellowship. The beechwood backboard of the book has extensive insect damage. She uses an adhesive in the cracks to help keep the wood together, so it won’t further split and fall apart. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: A mummy portrait painted on Beechwood dates to 130-300 AD. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Cathie Magee who is a Mellon fellow at the Walters Art Museum, works on the backboard of a 12th century St. Francis missal which she is helping to conserve as part of her fellowship. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Angie Elliott, William B. Ziff, Jr. Senior Conservator of Objects at the Walters Art Museum, uses small pieces of agrarose gel to help remove damaging salt from this Sumerian Temple Hymn on this clay prism from 1800-1600 BC. The Walters Art Museum and their Department of Conservation and Technical Research. The museum has eight conservators and one conservation scientist on staff to help repair and conserve the museum’s collection of artifacts that are on display. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Angie Elliott, William B. Ziff, Jr. Senior Conservator of Objects at the Walters Art Museum uses small pieces of agrarose gel to help remove damaging salt from this Sumerian Temple Hymn on this clay prism from 1800-1600 BC. The (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: A detail of a manuscript that is hand painted by Jean Poyet on parchment. The Walters is digitizing some of their books after stabilization of some of the flaking paint is finished. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: A 12th century St. Francis missal which is being preserved at The Walters Art Museum. The museum has eight conservators and one conservation scientist on staff to help repair and restore the museum’s collection of artifacts that are on display. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

: Amaris Sturm, an intern in the objects conservation lab at the Walters Art Museum, carefully cleans and stabilizes a 16th century frame and painting, focusing on the detailed enamel on the frame. (Lloyd Fox/Baltimore Sun)

The conservation lab at The Walters Art Museum is one of the oldest in America. It began when the museum opened it’s doors as a public institution in 1934 soon after Henry Walters bequeathed the building and 22,000 pieces of his art collection to the city of Baltimore. The Department of Conservation and Technical Research at the museum is made up of eight conservators and one conservation scientist. All of them are highly skilled and have extensive training in the fine arts to be able to preserve and restore many kinds of artwork including, paintings, books, manuscripts and other rare objects from around the world. While the conservators mainly prepare art for exhibition, they also work on the art to stabilize it for preservation purposes. The conservators can spend as little as a few hours working on a piece, or as long as six years as was the case with three large Italian Renaissance panel paintings dated from 1460 to 1470 that will be on display at the museum in the future.

Behind the scenes with conservators at The Walters

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