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There are numerous web sites dedicated to the field of art conservation on the Internet today. Searching for “art restoration” or “paintings conservation”, one can get 80 pages of sites. The conservation links / restoration links that I mention below are written professionally and are easy to read for anyone interested in the topic.
aic.stanford.edu
This is the website of the American Institute for Conservation of Cultural and Artistic Works. It is very comprehensive and contains a variety of topics, e.g. codes and ethics of conservation practice, how to choose a conservator, definitions of conservation terminology and practical “housekeeping” advice about how to care for a variety of art objects. (Click on the "Public Info" topic.)
www.artsmia.org/restoration-online/
This is a page in the Minneapolis Institute of Art’s website. Some of the great features of this page are: visual daily logs of the paintings restoration process, a glossary of conservation terms, and a list of frequently asked questions about paintings conservation.
www.cci-icc.gc.ca
This is the website of the Canadian Conservation Institute and is probably the most comprehensive and entertaining resource on art conservation. The "Preserving my Heritage" link has a "How to care for…" section that contains a lot of very useful information in the form of a 3D tour. It shows how to take preventive care of not just works of art, but other treasured heirlooms and collectibles as well.
www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/frame1.html
This part of a website on Russian paintings is dedicated to icons (traditional images of the Christian Orthodox religion). It offers a brief historical overview of these objects, their iconography, and a useful explanation of how we should approach them in terms of their aesthetics and their theological meaning. It was especially gratifying to find a page that discusses icon restoration since there are few sites that discuss this subject. This page also describes the various restoration and conservation philosophies throughout history. Even the most modern “approach” is demonstrated: the hypothetical look of an icon after its digitally reconstructed restoration.
www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/artc/internet.htm
This is an art conservation guide to Internet resources by the University of Delaware Library. It contains a comprehensive listing of associations and organizations in the field and more.
“Historical and Philosophical Issues in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage”
The Getty Conservation Institute (Los Angeles) published this book in 1996. It is a compilation of texts that have shaped our thinking about the conservation of cultural heritage in the Western tradition. (The present volume is about art appreciation and art conservation in general. Future volumes are planned to focus on specific topics, such as architectural and paintings conservation.) If you are interested in learning about the historical and philosophical antecedents of current ideas and values in art conservation, you will enjoy the book.
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