DIY Network

Royal Road Trip: Cincinnati Art Museum Royal Road Trip: Cincinnati Art Museum From "Talking Dirty With the Queen of Clean" episode DQOC-129

It may take only a few minutes to clean the dust off the artwork in the average home, but for professionals who have galleries to maintain, it takes much longer to keep their art collections in pristine condition.

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	Figure A
	Figure B

The brushes used to clean masterpieces are not the kind that Vincent Van Gogh would have used when he painted Undergrowth with Two Figures (figure A). But for Fred Wallace, the chief conservator at the Cincinnati Art Museum, they are the perfect type of brush to dust and clean Van Gogh's masterpiece. Although the entire art collection is cleaned as often as possible, the physical act of cleaning a painting can sometimes take almost as much time as it took to create the painting. Over the period of a year, the museum is cleaned in its entirety at least twice. Areas that are subject to a high level of dust, due to foot traffic, are cleaned on a weekly basis.

To dust a painting, two different brushes are used. The first, a utility brush, could be your average paintbrush and is used only on frames or the ledge of the frame. The bristles of the brush are gently guided through every nook and cranny of the frame surface. The actual painting is dusted with a much softer brush, made of either badger or black goat hair (figure B). These softer brushes can dust over the delicate pigmented surfaces without causing abrasions or scratching the surface.

It's a meticulous operation, approached with the same attention to detail that the artist might have had in mind when creating the painting. It's a job that must be done carefully and correctly, and it can't be done quickly. The curator must be sensitive to flaking and delicate, unstable areas of the paintings and artifacts, especially if they are painted or polychromed. If dusted incorrectly or too quickly, the paint surface can be dusted away. The same procedures are used on gilded frames to prevent flaking off any of the surface decoration.

Museums house more than just paintings. Eighteenth-century furniture is dusted using a special vacuum with controlled suction, preventing damage to the upholstery and hardware. Display cases shield some pieces from dust and dirt; the cases are cleaned regularly to remove fingerprints, and hard-to-reach places are cleaned using cloths with an electrostatic charge. Display pedestals are cleaned to remove pencil and scuff marks.

	Figure C
	Figure D

Smaller sculptures are wiped clean with soft cloths or old cut-up T-shirts (figure C). Larger sculptures that usually sit outside are brought indoors and cleaned to restore their original luster. Grime caused by pollution is removed, and the sculptures are chemically brought back to their true colors. A protective coat of wax is then applied to slow corrosion (figure D).

Although most of us don't have a Monet or a Van Gogh hanging over the mantle, we might have artwork that has priceless sentimental value. To protect these masterpieces, Fred Wallace offers the following advice:

• Do as little as possible to artwork if you aren't sure of the composition of the piece.

• If you have paintings at home that require periodic cleaning and dusting, Wallace recommends buying a badger-hair brush, available at art and craft stores. These brushes are expensive, costing approximately $120, but compared to artwork that can carry a much higher price tag or the cost of restoration for damaged artwork, it's probably worth the investment.

• Old T-shirts can be used to dust sculptures, but never use commercial cleaners on artwork; these harsh cleaners can damage your collection.

• If you have an expensive painting or artwork with sentimental value, have these pieces clean by a professional.
  

Tip: Rotate your collections. If you have numerous paintings, prints, photos or other artwork, store part of the collection while other pieces remain on display. You'll have less to clean.