Conservation Treatment

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Conservation treatment refers to the systematic process of preserving and stabilizing cultural heritage objects, artworks, and artifacts. It involves the assessment, cleaning, repair, and preventive measures to ensure the longevity and integrity of these items while maintaining their historical and aesthetic value.

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Key research themes

1. How can conservation methodologies systematically integrate material and intangible values for decision-making in cultural heritage treatment?

This research area focuses on developing structured, multidisciplinary methodologies to guide conservation treatment decisions that explicitly balance the physical state of cultural artifacts with their historical, cultural, and social meanings. Recognizing that conservation is not merely a technical endeavor but also a value-driven practice influenced by diverse cultural perspectives and stakeholder needs, these methodologies aim to provide a robust framework for making ethical and contextually appropriate interventions.

Conservation Treatment Methodology

by Barbara Appelbaum

2016

Key finding: This work presents an eight-step systematic methodology for conservation treatments that integrates both physical characterization and the object's cultural significance, including stakeholder values and history, to inform... Read more

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Reconceptualizing conservation

by Jesse Vermaire

2023, PLOS Sustainability and Transformation

Key finding: The authors propose a reconceptualization of conservation by emphasizing the 'HOW'—the processes and participatory approaches in conservation science and practice—beyond traditional definitions focused solely on biodiversity... Read more

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A Pilot Site Approach for Built Heritage Diagnosis: The Preservation and Conservation of Egongot Ethnic Minority

by Jocelyn Lutap

2022, Civil Engineering and Architecture

Key finding: Utilizing a pilot site diagnostic approach combining historic documentation and architectural condition assessment, this case study documents the Egongot ethnic minority traditional dwellings. The analysis reveals how modern... Read more

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2. What frameworks and strategies optimize resource allocation and prioritization decisions in multi-actor conservation systems under limited budgets?

This theme investigates decision-support tools and strategic frameworks that address the complexities of allocating limited conservation resources among multiple stakeholders with overlapping but sometimes divergent objectives. It examines how interactions among actors influence spending priorities and conservation outcomes, proposing methods to improve alignment between actions and objectives through coordination, optimization, and consideration of systemic interdependencies within socio-political contexts.

Setting conservation priorities in multi-actor systems

by Geoff Lundie-Jenkins

2023, BioScience

Key finding: The paper demonstrates that misalignment between conservation actors’ spending and declared objectives often arises from uncoordinated interactions in multi-actor systems rather than solely from individual inefficiency. Their... Read more

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Lagrangian Relaxation Techniques for Scalable Spatial Conservation Planning

by Akshat Kumar

2023, Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence

Key finding: Addressing scalability challenges in spatial conservation planning, the authors develop a Lagrangian relaxation approach to improve computational efficiency of sample average approximation methods in stochastic optimization... Read more

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Novel Conditions in Conservation Translocations: A Conservative-Extrapolative Strategic Framework

by Philip Seddon

2023, Frontiers in Conservation Science

Key finding: This study introduces a strategic framework to navigate uncertainty in species conservation translocations into novel environmental conditions, distinguishing between conservative strategies (avoiding novel conditions) and... Read more

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3. How do contemporary conservation paradigms address the uncertainty of shifting baselines and dynamic ecosystems in setting future conservation goals?

The focus here is on theoretical and practical responses to the crisis of traditional conservation baselines, challenged by rapid environmental change and evolving ecological paradigms. Research examines divergent approaches such as forward-looking intervention ecology versus deep-time rewilding concepts, evaluating their philosophical foundations, policy implications, and operational trade-offs. Insights into these evolving paradigms help to rethink conservation targets, ethical considerations, and strategies to ensure ecological and social sustainability.

Future Directions for Conservation

by jozef keulartz

2024, Environmental Values

Key finding: This article critically assesses the 'crisis of baselines' in conservation, contrasting the 'new environmentalists' who advocate moving beyond historical baselines towards interventionist future-focused ecology with... Read more

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Area-based conservation: Taking stock and looking ahead

by Jorge G Álvarez-Romero

2023, One Earth

Key finding: The paper reviews global progress on area-based conservation, particularly protected areas, in the context of ambitious future targets like protecting 30% of terrestrial and marine areas by 2030. It emphasizes challenges in... Read more

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We Know How to Do Conservation—We Just Need to Do More of It!

by Bibiana Sucre

2023, Diversity

Key finding: This work synthesizes evidence-based conservation practices across species and ecosystems worldwide, noting the scientific maturity that supports effective interventions. It points out the persistent mismatch between... Read more

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All papers in Conservation Treatment

The Mysterious Flecto: Investigating a Historic Treatment Material

by Skyler Jenkins and

2026, American Institute for Conservation Annual Conference, Minneapolis, MN

Conservators at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) recently came across a mysterious treatment material referred to as “Flecto” while they were re-treating a number of enameled jewelry and decorative arts objects in the collection.... more

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Wet Treatments of Works of Art on Paper with Rigid Gellan Gels

by Simonetta Iannuccelli

2024

Since 2003, the ICPAL Laboratory for the Conservation of Library Materials in Rome has been developing a conservation method to carry out cleaning interventions on works of art on paper using rigid aqueous Gellan gels, a microbial... more

Fig. 5. Comparative table of refraction indices of cellulose, calcium carbonate and dry carboxymethyl cellulose

Fig. 3. Surface cleaning with aqueous gel of hydroxyethyl methyl cellulose

Fig. 6. (A) Felt side of paper support; (B) Wire side of paper support. Digital video microscope (50x)

Fig. 8. (A) Albrecht Diirer, The Holy Family with two angels in a vaulted hall (1503-1504), burin engraving; (B) High crown water- mark, Meder 20

Figs. 1-2. José de Ribera, Poeta, etching, sec. XVII. Simulation on the work of the effects caused by the penetration of the airborne particulate matter (PM) within the paper support its condensation (Wolbers 2005, 13-20). Paper’s propensity to absorb humidity is also at the heart of a further factor of degradation given that—over time—a consistent part of the deposits that are initially present only on the outer layer of the work, tend to penetrate into the paper support, transmit- ted by the molecules of water that the material absorbs in its continuous attempt to reach hygrometric stability with its atmospheric surroundings. The effects of this phenomenon, in most cases, consist of processes of chemical degradation associated with structural and chromatic alterations that pro- foundly modify the aesthetic aspect of the images (figs. 1-2). In addition to guaranteeing the maximum level of aesthetic legibility of the work, the cleaning intervention must in these cases also ensure the chemical stability of the paper sup- port. Water, if used as a solvent, represents the ideal method to satisfy these preservation needs. As well as performing its intrinsic dissolving power for hydrophilic organic and A traditional surface cleaning technique involves treating the surface of the paper support with a hydroalcoholic solution applied with swabs. Although it is reduced by the presence of alcohol, the heightened surface tension that characterises water gives the solution a limited washing power and very high sub- surface penetration, which do not allow us to check how many

Fig. 25. Positioning of Japanese paper and of the gel on the recto of a print (A); removal of the auxiliary support and of any previous conservation interventions, working on the verso and using the gel as a humidifying support (B); mechanical removal of the adhesive (C) as on the inhomogeneous quantities of water transferred onto the areas that are individually treated. The aim of the use of rigid aqueous gels for the removal of additional material, is to keep the level of the humidification of the entire surface of the work uniform and constant throughout, avoiding the risk of over- or under-dosage of water and the aforementioned consequences. Conversely to the function it has during the intervention of surface cleaning, the rigid gel in this case is used exclusively as a reservoir for the constant and controlled release of molecules of water for the purpose of making all the materials present in the work sufficiently hydrated through- out the intervention. As a rule, the removal of additiona supports is carried out immediately after the surface cleaning intervention is completed, repeating the application of Gellan film prepared at a concentration that is suitable for the nature and quantity of materials that are to be removed. The coeffi- cient of the diffusion of the water solvent within the work wil in fact be substantially influenced by the percentage of water present in the gel, on the degree of porosity and wettability of the paper, on the presence of additional elements (origina sizing) and on the quantity and state of preservation of the adhesive present. In order to minimise mechanical tractions that—even if they are mild—could be caused on the origina surface, the Gellan film is in this case also applied to the recto of the work—placing a sheet of Japanese paper between the paper and the gel which will then serve to lift up the work once the operation is completed (fig. 25). The intervention is however conducted on the verso, once the ‘sandwich’ has been turned over using two sheets of Plexiglas and after having

Fig. 9. (A) Salvator Rosa, Soldato, etching (sec. XVII), close-up of the chalcographic cut with a microscope (15x); Jacopo de’ Barbari, Venetie M.D., woodcut printed on six sheets (1500). Close-up of the printing ink marks on the recto (B) and on the verso of the woodcut (C) receive the printing marks: the permanent structural modifi- cation caused by the pressing of the matrices on the paper which gives the final image an unmistakeable material aspect. The paper was thus dampened before proceeding with the printing in order to increase its ductility and also to promote the absorption of the ink. This guaranteed the distinctness and the legibility of the individual graphic signs which, trans- ferred onto the support, took on typical and clearly identifiable conformations, according to the technique adopted by the artist (Griselini 1770, 22). In the case of chalcographical engravings, thin surface rises were obtained in line with the grooves of the metallic matrix in which the paper penetrated; the surface layers of the paper therefore absorbed a more or less significant quantity of the ink that was deposited on it, creating the so-called ‘chalcographic relief’, identifiable on the recto of the work and, in the case of more significant stretches, even visible on the verso. In the case of xylographic works, the paper underwent heavy pressure of the Tull zones of the wooden matrices, thus giving it a structural deforma- tion in the opposite direction to that of chalcographic works and visible both on the recto and on the verso (fig. 9). The level of refining however had to not be so forced as to totally uni- form the dimensions of the fibres dispersed in water. This phenomenon would have increased the transparency of the support, compromising another important optical character- istic required by the artists: the ability to sufficiently contrast the graphical media on the recto, preventing the unwanted phenomenon of visibility on the verso. An excessively refined pulp would also have caused an increase in the points of opti- cal contact between the cellulose fibres, which would result in a material that was structurally more compact and homog- enous but at the same time more transparent to light. Similarly to what already occurred for drawings, paper used for original engraving also fully took part in defining the chiaroscuro of the image in terms of light or maximum luminosity (de Denaro 1994, 104-112). In order to demonstrate this, we can refer to a small but symptomatic variant introduced by artists in works produced after the 16th century, relating to the placing of the artist’s signature on the work. On drawings, this is no longer present on the surface of the paper involved by the image but is placed in very marginal areas of the sheets (just as happened on paintings) or removed. In engravings, monograms or dates, which were abbreviated according to the circumstances, appeared within the engraved image in rocks or hanging from trees like ex-voti. In line with what was stated by Erwin Panofsky about Albrecht Diirer’s work, there is thus the con- jecture that “the artist urged the spectator to interpret the paper not only as the material sheet on which the characters could be printed as if they were printed on the pages of a book, but as an imaginary plane of projection through which the pictorial space and its contents are seen” (Panofsky 1979, 111). During the 16th century, the stylistic evolution of engraving tech- niques, increasingly prone to emulating the effects of contemporary painting, radically transformed the traditional link between the image and the paper support, giving the latter

Fig. 7. Anonymous work from the early 16th-century, Testa di donna. Natural pietra rossa on white paper

Fig. 11. Raffaello Sanzio. Madonna, Bambino, Santa Elisabetta e san Giovannino (1507). Pen, watercolour inks and highlighting with white lead Fig. 10. Ugo da Carpi, Diogenes, a woodcut after Parmigianino (1526-27), chiaroscuro woodcut on paper

Fig. 23. Japanese paper placed on top of the Gellan gel (1%) placed on a polyester sheet (A); placement of the work on the Japanese tissue (B); removal of the work with the aid of Japanese tissue (C); place- ment of the work on a second gel with the aid of Japanese tissue (D)

Fig. 26. Distribution of the enzymatic solution and absorption by the gel (A-B-C); application of the gel (D) and the result of cleaning on the reverse of a large-scale work (E)

Fig. 29. The deacidifying gel positioned under the two drawings, using a sheet of Japanese paper as an interleaving tissue Fig. 28. An example of localised oxidation-reducing treatment: (A) a rigid oxidation-reducing gel and a simple rigid aqueous gel made according to a template; (B) positioning of the two gels under the drawing at the same time

Fig. 24. Close-up of the ‘contact angle’ test performed with two droplets of water on a 19th-century drawing (C); two Gellan gels prepared at different concentrations (A); both gels placed underneath the work (B)

Fig. 27. The tert butyl aminoborane (7g/1) is added under the fume hood, when the hydration process of the Gellan is complete, using personal protective equipment

Fig. 19. CIELab color variations measured with tri-stimulus Minolta CR200 chromo-meter on a burin engraving on paper by Giacomo Lauro, Basilica S. Petri in Vaticano (1626) herein does not bring about structural or surface modifica- tions to the paper supports as the cleaning intervention occurs spontaneously following the mere contact of the gel with the paper, which in fact simply undergoes controlled humidifi- cation. The safeguarding of morphological characteristics is further guaranteed by the visco-elasticity of Gellan gel. This

Fig. 4. The texture of a handmade sheet of paper pre-1635 (felt side) before (A) and after (B) surface cleaning with hydroxyethyl methyl cellulose at 2% in water followed by removal with a hydroalcoholic solution. Stereo microscope photograph (40x)

Fig. 15. Comparison of percentages of increase in weight in samples of Whatman paper (cat. no. 1001090) immersed in 200 ml of water and placed in contact with Gellan and Agar agar at increasing concen- trations, for 10 minute and 18 hours respectively. Readings carried out with Wunder scales at 26°C and RH equal to 55%

Fig. 17. Giacomo Lauro, Basilica S. Petri in Vaticano (1626), burin engraving. (A) before cleaning and (C) after treatment; (B) the clearly yellowed gel after treatment; (D) scheme of the application of the gel on a burin engraving

Fig. 18. The process of exchange between a very acidic and oxidised paper and a Gellan gel at 2%; (A) start of treatment; (B) after 5 min- utes; (C) after 15 minutes; (D) after 25 minutes. Macro-photographs taken with a video microscope (15x)

Fig. 22. Comparison of percentages of increase in weight in samples of Whatman paper (no.001090) after contact with Gellan gel at difter- ent concentrations (w/gel x%) and after immersion in free water for 10 minutes and for 18 hours. Readings taken with Wunder BH-150 scales (Max 150 g; d: 0,005 g) at 26°C and RH equal to 55%

Fig. 13. Gellan gel coil-helix transition scheme. The stabilisation of the gel is caused by the presence of Ca** ions. Image taken from M. Caggioni, P. T. Spicer, D. L. Blair, Rheology and microrheology of a microstructured fluid: The gellan gum case, in: “Journal of Rheol- ogy”, 51-5 (2007) pp. 851-865 Fig. 12. Primary structure of deacetylated Gellan gel

Fig. 14. José de Ribera, Poeta, etching (sec. XVII). Top, a close-up of the work before treatment. Bottom, a sample of surface cleaning of the work with Gellan at 3% on the left and Agar agar at 3% on the right

Fig. 16. (A) a saline solution of calcium acetate at low concentrations in deionised water (0.4g/1); (B) addition of Gellan powder to the saline solu- tion; (C) the complete hydration of the colloidal dispersion is obtained by heating the compound to boiling point; (D) pouring of the solution in a basin (E) a gel obtained upon cooling of the hot solution

Fig. 21. A same piece of paper from 1635 before (left) and after treat- ment (right) with Gellan gel at 2% applied for 30 minutes. Images taken with Dinolite video microscope (65x) Fig. 20. (A) Giacomo Lauro, Basilica S. Petri in Vaticano (1626), burin engraving on paper. Close-up of chalcographic engraving; (B) Close-up of the gel at 2% which—following contact with the work— shows the mirror image of the chalcographic engraving

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A 15TH Century Māori Textile Fragment from Kaitorete Spit, Canterbury, and the Evolution of Māori Weaving

by Dan Witter

2023

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Solid state NMR investigation of the roman Acqualadroni rostrum: tenth year assessment of the consolidation treatment of the wooden part

by Alberto Spinella

2023, Cellulose

This work follows a previous one dealing with the state of conservation study of the wooden part of the roman Acqualadroni rostrum soon after its finding in the seabed of Acqualadroni (Messina, Italy). The archaeological survey and... more

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Board Reattachment for Circulating Collections: A Feasibility Study

by Donia Conn

2023

allow the binding to function normally until more in-depth conservation treatments could be performed. The procedure may be summarized as follows:

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Molded" Paper Spine Binding

by Donia Conn

2023

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High Resolution ATR μ-FTIR to map the diffusion of conservation treatments applied to painted plasters

by D Sali

2023, Vibrational Spectroscopy

Here we demonstrate the extension of applicability of high resolution Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier transform infrared µ-mapping (ATR µ-FTIR) to the investigation of the diffusion of ammonium oxalate, an inorganic mineral... more

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No Leafcaster? No Problem! Using the suction table to fill large lacunae in an entire volume

by Whitney Baker

2023

This paper was first presented as a poster at the Changing Book: Transitions in Design, Production, and Preservation conference, July 23-24, 2005, Iowa City, Iowa, and presented as a poster at the AIC 34th Annual Meeting, June 16–19,... more

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Impact of training and institutional context on book conservation practices

by Whitney Baker

2023

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Effects of Conservation Treatment and Cooking on the Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Portuguese Wild Edible Mushrooms

by Paula Baptista

2023, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry

The effects of processing and cooking practices on the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of Portuguese wild edible mushroom species (Lactarius deliciosus, Macrolepiota mastoidea, Macrolepiota procera, and Sarcodon imbricatus)... more

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A Pilot Site Approach for Built Heritage Diagnosis: The Preservation and Conservation of Egongot Ethnic Minority

by Jocelyn Lutap

2022, Civil Engineering and Architecture

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Conservación y registro arqueológico en el yacimiento submarino Bucentaure II de La Caleta, Cádiz

by Luis Carlos Zambrano Valdivia

2022, revista PH

Una serie de grandes cañones de hierro fuertemente concrecionados en el fondo marino de la Caleta de Cádiz y posiblemente asociados a la Batalla de Trafalgar han servido para la puesta a punto de un sistema combinado de registro... more

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Solid state NMR investigation of the roman Acqualadroni rostrum: tenth year assessment of the consolidation treatment of the wooden part

by Alberto Spinella

2022, Cellulose

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A Pilot Site Approach for Built Heritage Diagnosis: The Preservation and Conservation of Egongot Ethnic Minority

by Jocelyn Rivera-Lutap

2022, Civil Engineering and Architecture

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A study of stearyl alcohol bloom on Dan Hill PVC dolls and the influence of temperature

by Lola Wøhlk Hansen

2022, Studies in Conservation

A study was conducted to investigate white bloom found on more than 130 polyvinyl chloride (PVC) dolls from the 1980s and 1990s produced by the Danish factory Dan Hill Plast A/S. The bloom was discovered on the dolls after 10 years of... more

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HOKIMATE PAMELA HARWOOD TE REO O TE KĀKAHU: AN ETHNO-ORNITHOLOGICAL CHRONICLE OF THE HISTORY AND LANGUAGE OF MĀORI FEATHER CLOAKS

Conservation Treatment

Key research themes

1. How can conservation methodologies systematically integrate material and intangible values for decision-making in cultural heritage treatment?

2. What frameworks and strategies optimize resource allocation and prioritization decisions in multi-actor conservation systems under limited budgets?

3. How do contemporary conservation paradigms address the uncertainty of shifting baselines and dynamic ecosystems in setting future conservation goals?

Related Topics

All papers in Conservation Treatment