DAMAGE TO PICTURES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20707, 3 May 1929, Page 6

DAMAGE TO PICTURES.

EFFECT OF FROSTS. Several pictures painted on wood, which have been on exhibition at the Museum of Historic Art, in Vienna, are reported to have suffered damage during the cold weather. Works by Titian and Durer, including the Emperor MaxtnilUan I and the so-called Gipsy Madonna, were among those in danger. To conserve large pictures painted on wood, as. for instance, “The Virgin’s Ascension,” by Rubens, has proved very difficult, because they cannot easily be moved from their places, and have to be “treated” on the spot. The Rubens, which, with many other pictures, was taken away to Paris by Napoleon, but restored after hja downfall, has had to be pasted over with tissue paper to protect it against the changes or temperature. Unfortunately, the apparatus for heating the museum has been out of order since 1919, and owing to the lack of sufficient means, could not be repaired. The coal shortage has added to the difficulty It has been impossible to preserve the normal temperature indispensable for the maintenance of the pictures. An official statement says that the damage is not serious, and that a number of works have been successfully restored.