Conservation Cleaning

     As part of my role as a Conservation Assistant, the majority of my work involves a variety of different types of cleaning. 

     There are two main types of conservation that are used within historic houses such as Basildon Park. They are preventative and restorative. The bulk of what I do here at Basildon is classed as preventative conservation. This involves cleaning and caring for the vast array of objects and materials within the houses collection to ensure that their condition is maintained intact for as long as possible. For example, a few weeks ago it was decided that it would be a good idea, as the house was relatively quiet, to start a clean on the various ceramics in the house. In the case of cleaning ceramics it isn't just as simple as sticking them in a bowl of warm soapy water and cleaning them with a sponge. Rather, we need to lay out all our equipment in advance and painstakingly clean each piece by hand. 

     Firstly, we need to clear a large work space such as the large table that we have in our conservation room. Next, we put down a layer of bubble wrap, followed by a layer of wax paper to create a soft surface for the ceramics, in case they are dropped whilst cleaning (it happens!). We then have a bowl of filtered water, a bowl of water with mild detergent, a bag of cotton buds and a pile of long kebab skewers. 

     If a piece is made of more than one part, for example a soap dish with a lid and drainage bowl, we take care to ensure that we carry each piece individually to the work surface. This is to ensure that if there was an accident and the piece was dropped, then only one part of the whole piece would be damaged, as opposed to the whole piece. 

     We then examine the piece to see if there are any cracks, chips, loss of glazing etc, that should be taken in to consideration when cleaning, and for the condition report that is written after cleaning each piece. Using the kebab skewers and the cotton wool, we carefully twist the cotton wool around the skewer to create a long cotton wool bud. This helps us to get in to the difficult places, ensuring an even clean. We soak the cotton bud in to the detergent, straining it of any excess moisture, and start to clean the piece. This is the long and boring bit, as some of the larger pieces can take quite some time. After this has been done, we then repeat the process using the filtered water. 

     Finally, when the piece is clean and dry, we write out our condition reports. I personally find this bit really difficult as we are expected to sketch the piece we have cleaned, and I am a terrible artist! We make sure to list any chips, cracks, loss of glazing etc, on to our diagram to ensure that the next time the piece is cleaned, any deterioration of the item can be easily recognised. 

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Here you can see the tools that I mentioned above. This item came from the Crimson Bedroom and is part of a wash basin, soap dish, water jug and chamber pot. This particular item is a 'slop bucket', which the chamber pot would have been emptied in to before being taken downstairs to be disposed of. The part on the left is an 'anti splash' lid, that ensures that the unlucky person whose job it is to carry the bucket downstairs, isn't splashed with any of the waste contained within. It certainly wasn't a particularly pleasant job, to be sure!

Here you can see me in action, cleaning one of the wash bowls. It is actually a really nice piece, which has been hand painted and is part of a much nicer, larger set. 

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     So far during my time here, I have learned how to clean a variety of materials; metals, ceramics, textiles, gilding, lacquer work, wood. However, the one that I find to be most rewarding to clean is textiles. Once shown how to do this once, I made it my mission to clean as many textiles in the house as I could. And it makes such a massive, visible difference. As part of my training, I was let loose on a George III sofa, which dates from the late 18th century, and is situated in the houses "Sutherland" Room. 

     Similarly to the way we clean ceramics, the first thing we do is prepare our work station in advance, laying out all the tools we need in preparation for the task. In this instance, we need a dust sheet, a vacuum cleaner with adjustable suction, some thin netting, a square wooden frame covered with netting and a flexible netting mat. 

     The vacuum is placed on its lowest suction setting, to ensure that as little disturbance is done to the textile in question, but enough to suck up the dust. The vacuum head has to be covered with some of the thin netting and masking taped in place. This is done to ensure that the vacuum only catches the dust particles and not any stray fibres which may be lose on the surface of the fabric. Similarly, this is why we have the square frame and netting mat. These too also act as an extra barrier between the surface of the textile and vacuum itself. The flexible netting is used on non flat surfaces such as folds and creases.The netting frame is used on items such as cushions. Once everything is in place, you carefully vacuum over the exposed area. Then once that has been done, you can examine the item to see if it should be done again.

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Here you can see myself cleaning the George III sofa using the equipment mentioned above. In this instance, I decided to use the netting mat as it was easier than the frame on this particular surface.

Another photo, again showing the work in progress.

The finished result. After the sofa had been done, all of the sofa cushions were taken off and cleaned as well. The whole sofa took me two days to complete and more than 6 hours of work.

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     I like to place an extra piece of netting between the hoover head and the hoover tube, as then I can remove the head between vacuuming and examine how much dust has been sucked up. It is amazing how much dust can be removed from such a small area. When you look at the item after cleaning, it really is visible just how much difference you have made to it. It is important to keep textiles clean of dust. A lot of dust can begin to weigh down on some of the more fragile fabrics such as curtains or drapes and eventually cause them to tear under their own weight. This type of conservation work ensures that we don't have to call in the restorators too often, although sometimes this can not be avoided as time takes its toll. This is the difference between preventative and restorative conservation.

     As mentioned earlier, there's only so much preventative conservation that can be carried out before a piece needs to be restored. A perfect example of restorative cleaning can be seen in the Crimson Bedroom bedroom in the house, which contains a variety of deep red furnishings, dating from 1829. The set comprises of a bed, curtains, stool, chair and sofa. The bed in particular is one of the best examples of William IV style upholstery and was probably built for royalty by the royal upholsterer George Morant. It has recently been restored fully in 2013, after being in the house since Lady Iliffe purchased it from Ashburnham Place for the grand total of £100! The video below tells you a bit about the bed.

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    So, as you can see, this is just some of the work that I do on a daily basis in the house. I still have a lot to learn, but so far I have enjoyed every single minute of it. It is exactly 4 weeks today until I leave, and I will be so sad to go. When you find a job that you truly love, you never work a day in your life. I hope to find some employment after this that can bring me as much joy as I have heard here these past 8 weeks. I look forward to sharing with you all what is to come.

Until then,

Best wishes,

Craig

Don't Panic!

     Wow, so I can't believe how incredibly busy I have been these past three weeks. It feels like forever since I last wrote in my blog, but I have so much to share with you all. I hope that, now I have access to the internet again (long story), I will take the next couple of days to share with you all my progress and some of the exciting things that have been happening here at Basildon Park. As there is a lot to catch up on, I thought I'd stagger my posts over the coming days until I am up to date with that has been happening.

     I will start with what I think is one of the most exciting things that I've done since I have been here in Basildon. It also comes under the most nerve racking, scary and apprehensive thing I've done since I've been here. Last Wednesday it was sprung upon me that we were to move some paintings in the library in to the conservation room on the top floor. This was in preparation for an examination by an art conservator who was coming to write a report on the condition of the paintings prior to their loan in Versailles at the beginning of next year. When being told this, my mind immediately tried to imagine the library and which paintings were in there, before I realised that they were all really big pictures! I asked Neil and Emma, "Which paintings are we moving exactly?" and they replied, "The two Charles de La Fosse paintings, 'The Rape of Europa' and 'Rinaldo and Armida', the big ones by the entrance". They weren't kidding. These things were huge. They're both an impressive 163.8 by 134.6cm. Logistically, taking them down off of the wall was quite a challenge. It required 5 of us to carry it up the 2 flights of stairs to the conservation room. 

    Firstly,we had to clear our path in preparation for transporting the painting. This involved moving furniture in the library in order to have space to place the ladder near the paintings. We also cleared the staircase hall and made sure the stairs were free. We then lay down a series of dust sheets on the floor directly underneath the painting, as well as ensuring that at least one of us has a steady supply of foam blocks. The foam blocks are used when needing to rest the painting on the ground, or against a wall. (Trust me when I say that these paintings are *heavy* and so the foam blocks saved my back and hands as we took regular breaks in carrying it). When all of that was laid out in preparation, I was responsible for climbing up the ladder, unscrewing the electric light which was fixed to the frame, and then carefully unhooking the painting off its hooks on the wall. I say 'carefully', but that is an understatement. 

     I have never been so careful with anything in all my life. Then came the scary part, which involved carrying it out of the library door, in to the entrance hall, through the door in to the grand staircase hall, up the grand staircase, through the conservation room hall way door, through the conservation room door, and finally on to their pedestals in the conservation room. As the doors were barely much taller than the frames of the paintings, we had to get on our hands and knees to ensure that we didn't knock any of the gold leaf gilding off the frames in the process of moving them. We only knocked one of the paintings once. Luckily, no damage was done at all... except to my nerves as my heart was in my throat! After carrying the first painting to the conservation room, it was then that our House Steward, Neil, informed us of their 6 figure value and 330 year old age. I wish he had saved that until *after* we had taken both paintings upstairs, and not with one left to go!

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Rape of Europa - The scene shows the story of the abduction/rape of Europa. In Greek mythology, Zeus was infatuated with Europa and to get close to her, morphed himself into a tame white bull.Whilst gathering flowers, Europa came across the bull, caressed his flanks and eventually climbed on to his back. Zeus took that opportunity to abduct her and ran to sea, swimming all the way to the island of Crete. It was there that he revealed his true identity and Europa became the first Queen of Crete. Zeus later recreated the shape of the white bull in the stars,which is now known as the constellation Taurus. It is likely that this was painted shortly after  'Rinaldo and Armida' between roughly 1686 and 1702, as a pendant to it.

Rinaldo and Armida - The scene in this painting is taken from the poem by Torquato Tasso, 'Gerusalemme Liberata', which was written in 1574. It shows the abduction of the crusading knight, Rinaldo, by the Saracen witch, Armida. To the left you can just about see a small pillar, upon which was an enchantment which lured him to Armida's island where he was lulled to sleep by a water nymph. Armida emerged with the intent of murdering him, but was instead overwhelmed by his beauty. She then bound him with woodines, lillies and roses, before carrying her away captive in her palace. It is likely that this was painted in France in 1686.

Myself standing next to 'The Rape of Europa' painting. This gives you a better idea of the scale of the painting. The best thing about having them off the wall like this was being given the rare opportunity to examine them up close and to really appreciate them in a different way. It's quite a privilege, really.

Neil, our House Steward, examining our work after taking down the first painting, 'Rinaldo and Armida'. You can see the dust sheets underneath the painting, and it is also resting on foam blocks, to protect the weight of the painting from itself as it sits on the floor. Even getting it off the wall was pretty tiring. And that was the 'easy part'.

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     The next day, they were examined by the art conservator. She is a lady who specialises in art conservation, and works mostly freelance but also for the National Portrait Gallery in London. She examined the paintings under a special light, and ultimately decided that they were probably not suitable for such a long journey as to Versailles. She explained that if they were left on the wall, they would most probably by okay for another few decades. However, if they were to be transported, it would almost certainly need to be relined (which means replacing the canvas on the painting), removing the cracked glaze and recolouring the areas that have faded underneath it, and cleaning the surface of the painting before re glazing it with a modern varnish. This would take an awful lot of work and, ultimately, is in the hands of the gallery in Versailles,as they are the ones who would be paying for the restoration. Why do they pay and not the National Trust? Because as a form of compensation for having to loan the paintings out for such a long time, it is generally agreeable for the other party to pay for any transportation or restoration costs that are needed to be carried out before they are given on loan. This is why it is interest for the National Trust to loan its collections wherever possible.

     They were only off the walls for 24 hours, before we had to do it all in reverse the next day!

     It was by far the most exciting thing I've done since I've been here. I hope there's more to come. That's all for now. I look forward to sharing with you all the rest of my news later in the week.

Until then,

Best wishes,

Craig