22/2/07 - History of Art - Heritage

The National Trust for Scotland, founded 1931, is a conservation charity that has 270,000 members, 500 employees, 2,500 volunteers and 128 properties. Kellie Castle in Fife needs one property manager, one gardener, volunteers and staff for the tearoom and shop. The NTS Head Office on 28 Charlotte Square employs a registrar, an archivist, photolibrarians, a head curator, a curator of painting and sculpture, a curator of the decorative arts, a head conservator (liasing with regional conservators), plus administration, finance, marketing and educational department, restaurant and workshop workers.

According to the NTS in the Manual of Housekeeping, conservation is the careful management of change. It is about revealing and sharing the significance of places and ensuring their special qualities are protected, enhanced, understood and enjoyed by present and future generations.

One issue conservationists must deal with is the management of dust in historical houses. A study by the University of East Anglia 1999 tried to find the answers to certain issues, such as what damage dust and frequent cleaning causes, how often surfaces should be cleaned and how, how the amount of dust that lands on objects can be reduced by preventative measures and which measures to take, how much it costs to remove dust, whether it is better to leave dust, what visitors' perception of dust is and whether dust is associated with historicity. Dust comes mainly from the clothing of visitors and can leave mud-like packs of dirt if left unchecked. Yet cleaning too often may lead to small-scale surface damage. A survey by the University of East Anglia studied questionnaires given to visitors of Culzean Castle and Kellie Castle. They found that visitors thought dust simply added to the historic and grand feeling of age. These findings suggest that old houses should be cleaned less often while grand houses should be kept clean to emphasise the elaborate, sophisticated parties that used to be held there.

The National Research Inventory Project (NIRP) is currently conducting a project on the collections of historic houses, including Hill of Tarvit in Fife. In 1904-1906, the house was designed by Robert Lorimer for F. B. Sharp (1862-1932). In 1949 it was bequeathed to the NTS. The principle aims of NIRP are to create a publicly accessible database of all 22,000 continental European paintings from 1200 to 1900 in over 200 collections and to contribute new scholarly research to museums' own documentation. Many researchers are currently working across the UK.

In the Sharp collection there are twelve paintings of 'kolfing' of which Sharp was a fan, and he later collected still-lives, portraits, 18th century English paintings, countryside paintings and horse paintings. He bought them from reputable dealers rather than the modern art market. His most expensive acquisition was Lady in Blue Dress, for £1005. He was a traditional and old-fashioned collector, perhaps wanting to imitate the tastes of the old-fashioned aristocracy.

Through the NIRP there is a historic rehang of the original Sharp collection. Sharp had wanted to show off his wealth and taste, and to provide a comfortable family home. Conservators had to rehang the paintings in accordance with this. Luckily, Sharp left behind inventories which listed the items of each room, and they have been very useful is the recreation of the original hanging of the paintings. Next, the conservators had to recreate the order and height of the paintings in each room. A compiler had listed the items in the rooms in order, starting with those above the fireplace and moving anticlockwise around the room. It was noticeable after the rehang that Sharp had placed themed paintings together so that they complemented each other and the room in which they were hung. For example, the smoking room, where he entertained his male guests, had mostly hunting paintings and horse paintings. The library had mostly portraits.

However, the inventory was not 100% reliable, so the conservators' 'recreation' is probably not accurate. For example, the inventory does not include all the paintings, there appear to have been no paintings in the drawing room, which is odd, and there is a list of minor paintings in the storage room. Sometimes the conservators have had to rely on guesswork.