MUSEUMS AND GALLERIES
For art’s sake
Steve Foxley, managing director, Smart Infrastructure (Solutions & Services) Siemens looks at protecting art treasures – the smart way.
G
alleries and museums provide a place for the display of important artworks, making them available for public viewing. They are places where the public can meet and experience the real essence of art in all its various forms.
However, these treasures are often vulnerable to damage as a result of physical incidents or environmental issues and present an ongoing challenge for the operators of galleries and museums.
Physical damage by the public can be malicious or accidental. There is the well-known case of a deliberate attack on the Leonardo da Vinci cartoon which was damaged by gun shot in the National Gallery in London in 1987. In 2015 a young boy caused extensive damage to a valuable 17th century painting by Paolo Porpora when he accidentally tripped and put his hand through it while trying to break his fall.
48 November 2019
There are also many accounts of priceless paintings being damaged because of inadequate control of fluctuating temperatures and humidity levels, over exposure to light and airborne particles of dust and dirt. These can lead to the slow deterioration, or even sudden damage, to a painting from fading, discolouration, mould, pests, fungi and warping. A painting by Raphael, was found to be warping dramatically because of a failure to repair a broken air-conditioning system in one of Italy’s best-known museums.
However, some gallery directors are sometimes not convinced that the cost of controlling the environment is all that important and regard it as too expensive While their preservation teams understand that even a modest rise in temperature can double the rate that organic materials deteriorate and the cost to savings ratio might be better than supposed a few years ago.
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