As mentioned in the last post by Conservation, we’re loaning several artworks to an exhibition entitled Sargent, Whistler, and Venetian Glass: American Artists and the Magic of Murano.  The first stop for the show is the Smithsonian Museum of American Art in Washington D.C. and the last is the museum in Ca’ Pesaro in Venice, Italy.

This CAM painting, “Venetian Lacemakers”, also by Robert Blum, will be in the exhibition as well.  It was conserved several years ago by our paintings conservator.  The discolored varnish and retouching were removed and re-done.  As the horizontal scroll reveals, after conservation the scene is much cooler, crisper and legible.

Conservators strive to ensure that their conservation treatments will preserve each artwork for numerous decades or, we hope, even longer.  Since its treatment in 2014, “Venetian Lacemakers” is looking its absolute best, which is how we always wish to send CAM artworks out on loan.

Robert Frederick Blum (American, 1857-1903), Venetian Lacemakers, 1887, oil on canvas, Gift of Elizabeth S. Potter, 1905.8