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Home > ArtCurious Podcast > Episode #19: Conservation and Controversy (Season 1, Episode 19)
Podcast: ArtCurious Podcast
Episode:

Episode #19: Conservation and Controversy (Season 1, Episode 19)

Category: Arts
Duration: 00:24:13
Publish Date: 2017-05-08 04:52:00
Description:

Conservators are art heroes: they transform damaged or dirty works of art into beautiful, fresh works for public consumption. Then why is it that conservation has been at the center of some of the biggest art historical controversies of the last fifty years? What does a conservator really do, and what happens when conservation goes too far?          

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Many thanks to the incredible Stephanie Pryor for research assistance!

Looking for a transcription of this episode? Check it out hereNot to be used for distribution or any other purpose without permission. 

Want more art-historical goodness? Check out the links below:

NPR: Art Conservators at Work: A Living Exhibit

Smithsonian Magazine: "True Colors"

Hyperallergic: With Its Own Arts Center, Beast Jesus Rises Again

Huffington Post: “Elderly Woman’s Hilarious Failed Attempt At Restoring A 19th Century Fresco In Borja, Spain.”

ArtNet News: “Appalling Restoration Destroys Giotto Frescoes at the Basilica of Saint Francis in Assisi Parts of the priceless medieval frescoes are now lost forever.”

Does your family Bible look like this? I'd recommend calling a conservator.
The Parthenon Today, Athens, Greece
Computer Simulation of the Original Appearance of the Parthenon, Ancient Greece
The Sistine Chapel, Post-Restoration
Michelangelo's Daniel, before restoration (left) and after restoration (right)
Michelangelo's Creation of Adam, comparative images pre- and post-restoration
Michelangelo's Jesse Spandrel from the Sistine Chapel-- note that some details, including Jesse's eyes, are now missing, post-restoration (right)
Elias Garcia Martinez, Ecce Homo comparison-- original, before restoration, and after

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