Art dealers, auction houses and private clients connect with me all the time. A recent fun evaluation/inspection I did was of a private $25 million painting of a wonderful Giverney garden lily pads.

1. Goddess Diana Restoration at the Philadelphia Museum
a Good Idea? Maybe not!
By Scott M. Haskins, Art Conservator
I’m often asked about my opinions on paintings. Art dealers,
auction houses and private clients connect with me all the
time. A recent fun evaluation/inspection I did was of a private
$25 million painting of a wonderful Giverney garden lily pads.
A couple of years ago I made a video while I walked through
the Philadelphia Museum of Art where they had a lot of
fabulous paintings by Monet on exhibit. Here's the link to the
video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFULHuqJ6kw I
was surprised how many people commented and enjoyed that
walk through with me.
In that video I also highlighted the statue of the Goddess Diana
which stands watch over the grand staircase. In the news
recently, it was just announced that the Bank of America is
funding conservation treatments and the regilding of this
famous sculpture. Here's an interesting article about it:
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=6347
4#.Ucn3jhb9NjQ

2. The question comes up every once in awhile, "How ethical is it
to redo, repaint, refinish artwork or historical objects"? That's
a good question! If you strip and refinish important valuable
furniture, you will seriously impact the value. But, stripping a
vintage car down to the metal and redoing it can enhance the
value. If you repaint a damaged painting, the value goes into
the toilet. But the Chinese restorers do a whole sale cover-over
of damage on old ceramics so to make the damage
undetectable (they think)... and while the “restoration” may be
acceptable in China, the value of its original nature is greatly
compromised internationally. If an historic building gets
completely redone from top to bottom, it adds value to the
property (if done right). If you over-clean valuable wood duck
decoys, the value is nil.
In this case, the worry is not about its monetary value but
concerns the original nature of a historic statue and its history.
The idea with this restoration intervention is to take it back to
its original appearance but I question whether this is heavy
handed. Goddess Diana has a history that is well documented
and the deteriorated finish of the sculpture illustrates or
documents that past story. Perhaps some would argue that I

3. am wanting to reduce her appearance from an esteemed work
of art into just an archeological object. But, there is something
to say for wonderful works of art that testify of their past. Let
her show off the testimonial conditions and let her be what she
is now, today. She will be stunning in gold I'm sure. But her
historic wrinkles will be Botoxed away.
For a quick video tour of an art conservation lab go to
http://www.fineartconservationlab.com
To learn more about what you can do at home to take care of
your stuff, download now a copy of Scott Haskins’ book, How to
Save Your Stuff from a Disaster at 50% off! CLICK HERE to
know more: http://saveyourstuffblog.com/products-supplies/
For a news article featuring Scott M. Haskins’, Click here:
http://www.fineartconservationlab.com/media-room/art-
restorerconservator-scott-m-haskins-featured-in-life-section-
of-newspaper/
For art conservation and painting restoration questions call
Scott M. Haskins 805 564 3438 or faclartdoc@gmail.com
For art appraisal questions call Richard Holgate at 805 895
5121 or jrholgate@yahoo.com
See short videos by Scott M. Haskins on art conservation
related subjects at YouTube channel “Bestartdoc”
http://www.youtube.com/user/bestartdoc?feature=mhee
See short do-it-yourself videos on collection care and
emergency preparedness for art collectors, family history
items, heirlooms, memorabilia at Youtube Channel
“preservationcoach”
http://www.youtube.com/user/preservationcoach

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