Conservation is the preservation of all original art materials whether paintings, sculptures, manuscripts, cloth, metal etc. and their treatment to prevent further deterioration. Restoration involves repairing the damage, filling in the gaps in the canvas support and the paint layer to maintain the visual continuity of the work.

Nature of Work

A restorer's job is to undo the damage done by time, ignorance, neglect and bad storage. Extremes of heat or cold as well as humidity expand and contracts canvases. Dust--and in places of worship-smoke from incense or candles and other materials also affect works of art. Often the artists themselves paint with little thought of conservation, using materials that break down, fade, change color or crack. 

A committed conservator must therefore have a full range of technical skill, experience, a fine sensibility as well as empathy with and respect for the object being handled. The
correct attitude is one of minimum interference. For this reason restorers must have a keen eye to judge the works, original appearance. They must also be conversant with the work of the period and of the artist in particular. 

The work also involves a great deal of complex chemical and other scientific treatment. During the process, care must be taken not to tamper with the original work. Subsequent to identifying the problem and deciding on the measures to combat it, restorers need to do the minimum. Their main purpose is to give the work a new lease of life-not to embellish it, or try to make the object look perfect. 

Good restorers never try to compete with the master artist. Their work, in the eyes of a layperson, should be indistinguishable from the original. The job demands hours of painstaking effort. Sometimes it takes more time to restore a work of art than to create one. Restorers also provide consultation on display and storage.

Stages of Restoration

Restoration deals with the anatomy of the art object, its physical components and the skeleton of its structure, which includes the stretcher and the canvas. Its basic concern is the science behind the art. Contrary to common perceptions of the work restoration is not a question of applying a brush to a painting, in an effort to hide the problem. Rather, it requires sorting a painting from the inside out. Any restoration measure is an intervention. 

Some paintings can be restored to their original appearance while others, like watercolors, cannot. The process, on a single oil painting, can take between fifteen days and one year to complete-depending on the extent of the damage. 

Sculptures are restored in much the same way as painting. Manuscripts require approximately three months to restore, sort and arrange. The restoration process is carried out in various stages. For oil paintings these include:

DIAGNOSIS: 

Which involves visual and chemical analyses, using the latest laboratory technology, to assess the damage and decide on the course of intervention. Restoration is not easy, and can pose huge problems for those who undertake it. Master artists can be technically ignorant or careless and use
different materials together that deteriorate variously and require a combination of treatments. 

The restorer must analyze these materials and decide on the appropriate treatments for each. Technology now helps in this process, and the infrared and ultraviolet scans, X-ray and chemical and microscopic analyses are incorporated at this stage. 

CLEANING: 

Requires the careful removal of layers of dust, grime and corrosion from acidic paint. This `consolidates' the painting by arresting further damage and bringing out its original figures and colors.

STRUCTURAL REPAIRS: 

Are now made as holes and other spoiled areas mar the paintings appearance. The job is done so that neither is the original work tampered with nor are the repairs too obvious. The painting is given a backing, defects are toned down and holes are filled in with a variety of materials. Selection of the materials most suited to the painting is at the discretion of the restorer.

RETOUCHING: 

Or `inpainting' is the final stage of restoration. This gives continuity to the layer by filling up the large gaps, which would otherwise be visually disturbing. This is a tricky business, as the authenticity of the painting must be kept intact. The ethics of conservation have to be kept in mind
during retouching, since all works have their historical associations that cannot be tampered with. 

Only the area, which has lost paint, is worked on without any encroachment upon the rest of the masterpiece. Neutral tones are added without reconstructing details of the lost area. This enhances
aesthetic appeal without attempting to compete with the artist. As causes of damage are different in India as compared with Western countries where restoration techniques originated, restorers here use mineral and earth colors while retouching old paintings. 

Since each part of the painting has to be considered separately the process requires patience, expertise and time. All inpainting has to be reversible and easily removable at a later date, without any damage to the original layer, so that close examination will reveal the addition.

Specialist Areas

Individuals could specialize in the restoration of oil paintings, metal objects, monuments and sculptures. The procedure for restoration is the same but specialized knowledge of the material being restored is important.