Sarah,

Yes, this happens all the time.  People even ignore the advice of a trained 
conservator.  In general, many people have already made up their minds 
before asking advice.  What they want to hear is that their chosen course of 
action is appropriate.  If they do not hear that, they simply ignore the 
advice.  Often, the underlying issue is money.  Historically, snake oil 
salesmen have made considerable fortunes selling products/treatments that at 
best do nothing and at worst cause harm.  Remember all those 19th C tonics 
that included cocaine as an ingredient?  In fact, Coca-Cola originally had 
cocaine in it.  All it takes is guts and the willingness to take money over 
actually helping people.  Sometimes these two even get confused, and the 
vendor erroneously thinks they are helping while they make money.  Ignorance 
is bliss.

There is no solution to this dilemma.  All you can do is offer competent 
advice.  Your responsibility ends there.

As an interesting aside, my own father fell into this trap when I was a 
teenager.  He wanted to "clean" several paintings from the early 20th 
century by a well-known local artist.  He did not want to spend the money, 
and upon the advice of a local "restorer," cleaned them with mechanics' hand 
cleaner and steel wool.  Needless to say, a bunch of the paint came off, 
although he denied it vehemently.

Marc

American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
     4 Rockville Road
     Broad Brook, CT 06016
     www.conservator.com
     860-386-6058

*Collections Preservation Consultation
*Conservation Assessments & Surveys
*Low-Tech Environmental Control
*Moisture Management Solutions
*Collections in Historic Structures
*Collections Care Grant Preparation
*Conservation Treatment of:
     Furniture
     Painted Wood
     Horse-Drawn Vehicles
     Architectural Interiors

Marc A. Williams, President
     MS in Art Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
     Former Chief Wooden Object Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
     Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Sarah Wood-Clark" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 14, 2007 9:29 PM
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Painting Conservation


> Here's a question for the list.  When people ask your opinion, as a 
> museum professional, about something like an appropriate treatment  for 
> their paintings, do you find that they quite often ignore it?    For 
> example, in this case I expressed doubts about the  appropriateness of the 
> treatment, suggested that they ask lots of  questions about methods and 
> materials to be used, tell the  practitioner that they needed to get board 
> approval and I would then  help them to decide whether it was the right 
> course of action.  And I  offered to help them find a qualified 
> conservation professional --  even e-mailed them a list from the AIC web 
> page.  Instead they  authorized this treatment and left the paintings 
> because "they  sounded like they knew what they were talking about."  I 
> wonder why  that is?
>
>
> On Aug 12, 2007, at 10:27 PM, Marc A Williams wrote:
>
>> My 2-c:
>>
>> I agree with what David said.  The other problem with certain kinds  of 
>> oils is that they may not fully oxidize or dry, remaining oily, 
>> softening underlying varnish or paint layers and entrapping dust  and 
>> dirt, creating a real mess.  Oils are one of the worst products  that can 
>> be used for preservation of painted, finished and  decorative surfaces. 
>> I never use them.  Period.
>>
>> The other issue is that any coating or treatment will seal in  existing 
>> dirt if it is not properly cleaned first.  Then, the dirt  is much more 
>> difficult and more expensive to remove in the future.   I never varnish 
>> or otherwise coat a dirty surface.
>>
>> The treatments you mention, if one ignores their potentially  devastating 
>> effect on the paintings, of course do nothing for the  losses requiring 
>> inpainting.  Hopefully, anyone that would consider  using the 
>> aforementioned products on a painting has enough sense  not to attempt 
>> inpainting, but I doubt it.
>>
>> I know doing nothing is difficult for many people, but doing the  wrong 
>> thing is much, much worse than doing nothing.  I would  suggest that the 
>> money she would spend for the inappropriate  treatment would be better 
>> applied for a partial treatment by a real  conservator.  Conservators do 
>> not have to do a complete treatment.   One may be able to stabilize the 
>> areas of loss and do a quick  cleaning of dirt, making the paintings look 
>> better, without  creating any additional damage now or in the future.
>>
>> She may be surprised to find that a qualified conservator lives  closer 
>> than she thinks, she just doesn't know it.  The American  Institute for 
>> Conservation (AIC) in Washington, DC maintains a  referral list that 
>> anyone can access.  Otherwise, doing nothing is  the best thing she can 
>> do.
>>
>> Marc
>>
>> American Conservation Consortium, Ltd.
>>     4 Rockville Road
>>     Broad Brook, CT 06016
>>     www.conservator.com
>>     860-386-6058
>>
>> *Collections Preservation Consultation
>> *Conservation Assessments & Surveys
>> *Low-Tech Environmental Control
>> *Moisture Management Solutions
>> *Collections in Historic Structures
>> *Collections Care Grant Preparation
>> *Conservation Treatment of:
>>     Furniture
>>     Painted Wood
>>     Horse-Drawn Vehicles
>>     Architectural Interiors
>>
>> Marc A. Williams, President
>>     MS in Art Conservation, Winterthur Museum Program
>>     Former Chief Wooden Object Conservator, Smithsonian Institution
>>     Fellow, American Institute for Conservation (AIC)
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Wood-Clark" 
>> <[log in to unmask]>
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> Sent: Sunday, August 12, 2007 11:45 AM
>> Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Painting Conservation
>>
>>
>>> Hello All,
>>>
>>> I have what may be a dumb question, but here goes...a friend has  a 
>>> couple of nice aging oil paintings (early-mid this century)  that need 
>>> some attention (cleaning and inpainting), she lives in  a rural area 
>>> and does not have access geographically or budget- wise to painting 
>>> conservators and has turned them over to someone  who has promised to 
>>> go over them with Salamander Oil and varnish  them. I don't know what 
>>> varnish, and I seem to remember earlier  in my career equating 
>>> salamander oil with snake oil or worse.   What does this stuff  actually 
>>> do?  Will it harm the painting?
>>>
>>> Oh, thank you in advance.
>>>
>>> Sarah
>>>
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