The ethos of any object or place originates from its context. Whether this context is historical, cultural, social, anthropological or even personal, it invites intrigue and a certain sense of custodianship. This very custodianship addressing and maintaining the ethos of an object of context, in the larger picture, can be understood as conservation. Dr. Rivka Sevy(1) in her insightful essay, Ethics in Conservation of Original Materials explains that conservation is the maintenance of an artefact through time, and adds that the conduct of allowing such transmission refers to ethics in conservation. Acknowledging, documenting and conserving the context of an object or a place also means recognising its history, only then can a truthful transmission proceed. 

A way of understanding Conservation and its extent is to comprehend what as humans and as societies , we recognize as historic or what we choose to include in our culture and what we deem easy to discard from our history. What essentially determines Conservation? Is it limited to mere contextualising ? Or is it selective appropriation? Cesare Brandi (2), the twentieth century art historian and conservation theorist relates the process of recognizing the historic, aesthetic, anthropological or artistic value of an object or place as an act of appropriation. And very aptly points out the strangeness in this process, that is, the necessity of reaffirmation of these values in a society’s or an individual’s collective consciousness. As the recognition of a place or an object’s value became part of human evolution, the methods to preserve these also became a curiosity for several theorists and practitioners. What is this curiosity after all? 

The history of Art conservation is long, arduous and punctuated by several modes of practice and principles, giving emergence to theories only in the very recent past (3). Pliny the Elder’s account from the first century AD provides the earliest written record for  conservation of antiquities (even though it lacks actual technical details). As documented by Cellini (3) , the foundation of modern conservation practice was essentially laid in the Renaissance. Cellini’s written descriptions on methods and thoughts of Renaissance restorers also throws light on their attitudes and overall perception towards art conservation (7). With the discoveries and subsequent excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum (4) a certain fervour for developing preservation techniques also grew.

Consequently, the growth of archaeological conservation (5) gave way for scientific conservation. Emphasis on identifying the materiality of objects rather than the actual intervention on the basis of scientific probing of objects, began to gain repute. Recognizing and affirming scientific analysis as a tool to uncover the truths about an artwork(4), facilitated the establishment of the principal ideas of modern conservation theory, namely, ‘minimal intervention’ and ‘reversibility’.

Brandi’s Teoria del Restauro defines the ideal process of conservation as the conscious methodology of understanding what an object endures in its life span , and the mitigation of its gradual deterioration (like any organic or inorganic material) against the odds of ambient conditions and time, neglect and even falsification. Contrary to this, in actual conservation practice, often there is some loss of materials during interventions. The greater the intervention, the higher the risks of losses and damage. Any ethical intervention essentially can be understood as an equilateral triangle where each side is crucial to the other. The first side represents the acknowledgement of what is to be conserved, the second addresses  why it is to be conserved and the third side refers to how it must be conserved. While responding to the what means identifying the historic, anthropologic, documentary, religious,artistic or personal value of the object, the why invites comprehending the function of the object2. Subsequently, the extent of an intervention is determined by answering the how in the equation. Addressing these three parameters warranted by the appropriate knowledge base and required skills, ensures the conservation of an artefact, its utility and the relay of the information it holds. 

Conservation interventions can broadly be classified into two major categories. One is concerned with maintaining the artefact or artwork’s authenticity, and the other is focused at maintaining the aesthetic value. Conservation entails rescue and preservation of an artwork to maintain its structural integrity. Restoration on the other hand is an augmentation of the  artwork’s aesthetic appeal. Both kinds of interventions- conservation and restoration are carried out independent of each other, but  conservators and restorers are often regarded separately. This alienation of one from the other dicards the vital synergy between scientific interpretation and artistic perceptiveness that establish the cornerstone of the art of preservation. As a result, conservation and restoration encompass meticulous scientific research, unique methodologies, and extensive care. All these are directed towards the artwork’s longevity, including the rehabilitation to its original form, rectification of damages and alteration due to natural conditions, storage environment as well as deceleration of future deterioration (6).

Cesare Brandi aptly reinforces both the traditional and modern ideology behind art conservation- “In reality, even if its recognition (the work of art) must take place each time in individual consciousness, at that very moment, the work of art belongs to cosmic consciousness. The person who enjoys this direct revelation feels the need, as compelling as a moral need, for preservation. Conservation extends across an infinite scale, starting from simple respect and leading to the most radical intervention, such as the case of detaching frescoes or transferring paintings onto wood or canvas.” Hence, the work of professional conservators and restorers extends beyond the common horizon of art; taking up the sincere duty as keepers of history, culture, and humanity. In the process, sustaining a compelling dialogue between the original artist-creator of the artwork, and the viewer, unperturbed, expressed in nuanced artistic cues. 

There are still several questions surrounding the scope, intent, extent and inherent fallacies in the art of conservation-restoration-preservation. Can the existence of an artefact, artwork survive only in collective or singular memory, without being preserved physically , and if so , how? Does thorough documentation suffice for the absence of the artwork itself? Can a mere fragment effectively represent the artwork without the ominous Ship of Theseus paradox (8) looming over  it ? The answers to these questions lie in viewing the practice of conservation in the grey zone, situated in between a set of dichotomies: of hands and minds, practice and theory, hard sciences and humanism, the tangible and the intangible, and the traditional and the new. (3)

Certainly, a fragment does not represent the entire object, instead it holds clues to the semblance of its mothership; encapsulating the past to be released on to the future. As a mere piece it reveals centuries of obscure historic details, sometimes fitting as lost pieces of a puzzle.

 

References: 

1. Cesare Brandi, Teoria del Restauro, Torino, Giulio Einaudi Eds., 1977 and 2000.
2. Dr. Rivka Sevy, Petrad. (2015, February 17). Ethics in conservation of original materials. European Holocaust Research Infrastructure. https://www.ehri-project.eu/ethics-conservation-original-materials#:~:text=Ethics%20in%20conservation%20refers%20to,values%20scale%2C%20so%20does%20Conservation
3. Dr. Hanna Hölling (2017), The technique of conservation: on realms of theory and cultures of practice, Journal of the Institute of Conservation
4. Muñoz-Viñas, S., 2012. Contemporary theory of conservation. Routledge.
5. Sease, C., 1996. A short history of archaeological conservation. Studies in Conservation, 41(sup1), pp.157-161.
6. The World Art News. (2024, March 21). The significance of art conservation and restoration: preserving cultural heritage for future generations. World Art News. https://worldart.news/2023/08/30/the-significance-of-art-conservation-and-restoration-preserving-cultural-heritage-for-future-generations/
7. Benvenuto Cellini, Memoirs of Benvenuto Cellini, A Florentine Artist; Written by Himself, trans. Thomas Roscoe (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1847), 405.