Conservation in Film and Fiction
From trashy paperbacks to European film noir, conservators show up
in the strangest places. Take a look at this list of some gems and
duds to be found at the library and the video store. Do any of the
characters seem familiar?
Many thanks to Rebecca Anne Rushfield & Patricia S. Griffin whose
Conservation Fiction list is featured on the Conservation On-Line
(CoOL) website at: http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byauth/rushfield/conservation-fiction/.
CAC has edited and added to the CoOL list.
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Novels
Short Stories
Films
Plays
Television Programs
Television Commercials
- Banks, Oliver
The Caravaggio Obsession
1984
- Contains a description of the conservation of a painting.
Bantock, Nick
The Venetian's Wife
1996
- Sarah Wolf, a bored paintings restorer corresponds with a ghost with more than a
passing interest in the Kama Sutra ( is the author of Griffin and Sabine)
- Banville, John
Athena: A Novel
New York: Alfred A. Knopf; Distributed by Random House, 1995. 232 p.
- An art expert with a criminal past authenticating paintings for a gang meets a woman
who seems to have emerged from one of the paintings.
- Barnes, Julian
Love, etc.
2000
- The lives and loves of a group of friends, including two paintings conservators.
- Talking It Over
1991
- A retelling of the Truffaut classic Jules and Jim in which the female is a paintings
restorer and the victorious male applies the term reversibility, as used by
conservators, to relationships.
- Bradley, John Ed
Restoration
Doubleday, 2003.
- The tale of a restorer in New Orleans and a WPA mural that was whitewashed to
avoid a scandal. An analogy between covering/uncovering paintings and passing as
white in the South. The artist was a light-skinned black man and his granddaughter is
the restorer.
- Carr, J. L.
A Month in the Country
1980 -
In 1920, a restorer of wall paintings emotionally and physically affected by his service
in WWI and an archaeologist working nearby search for a 14th century grave.
- Cass, Zoe
A Twist in the Silk
1983 -
A romance novel about a textile conservator.
- Child, Lincoln; Preston, Douglas J. & Colacci, David
Relic
1994
- In the first few pages, an ethnographic conservator at a museum stumbles upon the
remains of the first victim and quits his job. The heroine, a graduate student in
evolutionary biology, shares an office with a young female conservator working on a
collection of masks. Many museum employees are murdered before the story ends.
See the film with the same title.
- Cohen, Arthur Allen
Artists & Enemies: Three Novellas
Boston: Godine, 1987. 274 p. -
A collection of three novellas. In the first, an artist who wanted to be great but lacks
talent must find glory in restoring the masters' works.
- Coker, Carolyn
Appearance of Evil
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1993. 244 p. -
Art restorer Andrea Perkins is drawn into a murder investigation while working on a
commission at the Huntington Museum in Southern California.
- The Other David
1984 -
A suspense novel featuring Andrea, a young American restorer of Renaissance
paintings who does a lot of analytical testing of samples (e.g. carbon-14 dating) by
herself .
- Colt, Cassandra
A Brush with Passion
Columbus, Miss.: Genesis Press Inc., 2000. 276 p. -
Part of the Secret Library Series—Erotica for Women by Women, it features Nina
Ashton who comes to Los Angeles to carve out a career in fine art restoration.
- Connor, Beverly
One Grave Too Many
2003 -
Murder and mayhem in a natural history museum. Involves the usual suspects,
including the conservator.
- Cook, Robin
Sphinx
1980 -
Mainly a thriller about black market in Egyptian antiquities. The heroine comically
authenticates Egyptian artifacts because the paint is not water (spit) soluble. Also
made into a movie starring Stephanie Zimbalist and Frank Langella.
- Coomer, Joe
The Loop
Faber and Faber, 1992; Scribner, 1999 -
A stray parrot flies into the lives of a Texas Courtesy Patrol officer and a sensuous
repairer of books.
- Davies, Robertson
What's Bred in the Bone
1985 -
In the 1930s, Francis Cornish becomes an apprentice to the greatest restorer of
paintings who doesn't just restore paintings but "improves" them. Cornish creates his
own works which are proved authentic by other experts.
- Dela, Helena
The Count - a modern fairy tale
London: Piatkus, 1999 -
Ella is about to lose her job in the book restoration department of the British Library
due to outsourcing. She marries a German count, breaks a family curse, and restores
the ancestral castle in the Alps with the help of conservation students and some
ghosts.
- Dick, Philip K.
Galactic Pot-Healer
Berkeley, 1969 -
Joe Fernwright is a restorer of old ceramics in a future where the Earth is
overcrowded but few have anything worthwhile to do. Fernwright's problem is that
there are almost no ceramics left to restore. He is rescued from this meaningless
existence when he is contacted by an alien being, the Glimmung, who hires him to
help in the complicated task of raising and restoring an ancient cathedral from the
ocean floor of a distant planet.
- Dunbar, Catherine
False Images
2000 -
A murder mystery featuring a paintings conservator.
- Dunnett, Dorothy
Niccolo Rising
1986 -
Niccolo, the main character lives in Bruges in the 15th century and is involved in the
textile industry; there is a lengthy discourse on lake dyes.
- Faber, Michel
The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps
1999 -
A romance featuring a shell-shocked paper conservator recuperating on an
archaeological dig, and a handsome local doctor with a neurotic dog.
- Fairstein, Linda
The Bone Vault
Scribner, 2003 -
A mystery in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Cloisters, and the Museum of
Natural History. An intern is found dead in a mummy sarcophagus, poisoned by
pigments used in the conservation of illuminated manuscripts.
- Frucht, Abby
Life Before Death
1997 -
A story of a 40 year old curator dying from cancer. The book includes a rather good
description of museum employees working to salvage what remains of the collection
after a fire at the historical society.
- Gaddis, William
A Frolic of His Own
1994 -
One of the characters is a sculptor who is suing to prevent the destruction of one of
his works--an enormous outdoor installation in which a dog has become trapped
- Goodrum, Robert A.
Dewey Decimated
1977; Harper & Row paperback 1988. 245 p. -
The story involves the authenticity of some items in a rare book collection. A book
conservator who works in a locked cage in the stacks of a library is found brutally
murdered.
- Hammond, Gerald
Grail for Sale
Severn House, 2002. 224 p. -
Scottish historian Jeremy Carpenter and American antiques dealer Hazel Tripp team
up to get back at a man who has injured them. In the course of the plot, which
involves a forged antique and the discussion of fabrication techniques, Hazel repairs a
number of antiques.
- Hegarty, Frances
Half Light
1993 -
A paintings restorer whose real life pales in comparison to the vivid fantasies that she
weaves around the paintings she restores (and repaints) receives a commission to
restore a collection in the house of a recluse. He is an obsessed stalker type who has
loved her from afar. Contains much sexual pathology.
- Hellenga, Robert
The Sixteen Pleasures
1994 -
An American paper conservator goes to Florence to help out after the flood and has
an affair with an Italian paintings restorer.
- Hillerman, Tony
Talking God
1989 -
A Native American conservator recreates artworks for displays so that he can
repatriate the originals.
- Holt, Victoria
King of the Castle
1967 -
The heroine is a 19th century art restorer hired by a French count to restore the family
paintings
- Hoving, Thomas
Discovery
1989 -
Conservators unroll ancient scrolls
-
- Masterpiece
1986 -
Forgery and descriptions of conservation
- Inchbald, Peter
Short Break in Venice
1984 -
A Scotland Yard Art and Antiquities Squad detective who knows a great deal about art
restoration is on vacation in Venice and becomes involved in a case of vandalism of
art shops.
- Innes, Hammond
Isvik
1989 -
The recovery of an old frigate locked in the ice in Antarctica involves a young
Englishman who is an expert on wood preservation
- Johnson, Terry
Hitchcock Blonde
Play Royal Court Theater, London: 2003. -
Two characters look at deteriorated film canisters containing unfinished works by
Hitchcock. The condition of the film strips as well as treatments to separate the
celluloid are described.
- Kaewert, Julie
Unbound
Bantam paperback , 1997 -
One of a series of books about British book publisher Alex Plumtree. It features book
restorers and book conservators.
- Untitled
Bantam paperback , 1999 -
One of a series of books about British book publisher Alex Plumtree, it features book
restorers and book conservators.
- Kreuger, Frederik H.
De restauratie. Op zoek naar de verdwenen stroken van de Nachtwacht
2000 -
In Dutch. A fictional story about the missing parts from Rembrandt's Night Watch
- Kurzweil, Allen
Title
New York: Hyperion, 2001. 359 p. -
A NYPL reference librarian is hired by a mysterious old man to do some freelance
research. There are a few scenes involving the cranky conservator at the library, from
whose workshop the main character must smuggle a rare book he needs for his
research.
- Langton, Jane
Murder at the Gardner
1988 -
Descriptions of conservation.
- Lester, Judy (Dr. Leslie Carlyle)
Masterpiece of Deception: An Art Mystery
2001 -
An art restorer and a fraud involving an over-painted panel painting.
- Lieberman, H.
The Girl with the Botticelli Eyes
1996 -
The setting is a Botticelli show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A painting is
damaged, packaged in a climate controlled crate and sent to an Italian restoration
atelier.
- Llewellyn, Caroline
The Masks of Rome 1989
- Canadian art restorer recovering from a bitter divorce
in Rome discovers that her employer's family masterpiece is
a forgery.
-
- MacLeod, Charlotte
The Resurrection Man
1992 -
This is one of a series featuring Boston art detective Max Bittersohn and his wife
Sarah Kelling. Recently treated works of art go missing and signs point to the
involvement of newly arrived art restorer Bartolo Arbalest.
- McDonald, Frank
Provenance
1980 -
Descriptions of conservation.
- McKean, James
Quattrocento
2002 -
A paintings restorer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art discovers a Leonardo and
indulges in some time travel.
- Michaels, Anne
Fugitive Pieces
1998 -
The fictional story of a Polish Jewish man who was smuggled out of Poland and to
Greece by a Greek archaeologist who is an expert in the conservation of waterlogged
wood.
- Michaels, Barbara
Stitches in Time
1995 -
A cursed antebellum quilt wrecks havoc for the owners and employee of an antique
shop specializing in textiles. They do their own cleaning and conservation and there is
some discussion of dry and wet cleaning as well as handling issues.
- Miglis, John
Masterwork
1980 -
Restoration of The Night Watch. Hard to find.
- Murray, Yxta Maya
The Conquest
New York: Harper Collins, 2002 -
Sara Gonzales, a restorer of rare books and manuscripts at the Getty Museum, is
assigned the restoration of a 16th century book called The Conquest. The narrative
alternates between Sara's story and the story told in The Conquest.
-
- Ondaatje, Michael
Anil's Ghost
New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000. 311 p. -
An artisan is brought to Buduruvagala in Sri Lanka to oversee the reconstruction of a
120 foot high statue of the Buddha which had been dynamited.
-
- Pears, Iain
Death and restoration
London: HarperCollins, 1996. 223 p. -
A mystery involving an American paintings restorer and a Caravaggio painting
-
- Perez-Reverte, Arturo
The Flanders Panel
1994 -
A hidden chess-related inscription surfaces during the cleaning of a 15th century
Flemish painting and Julia, the young Spanish art restorer who makes the discovery,
turns to others for help in intuiting its meaning; murder follows.
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- Peters, Elizabeth (aka Barbara Michaels)
The Ape Who Guards the Balance: An Amelia Peabody Mystery
New York, N.Y.: Avon Twilight, c1998. 376 p. -
One of the more recent books n the Amelia Peabody mysteries set in the dawn of the
modern era of Egyptology (pre-discovery of Tut's Tomb). Some discussion of "proper"
conservation practices straight out of Lucas (ie. paraffin/wax impregnation).
-
- Pottinger, Stanley
A Slow Burning
2000 -
One of the main characters is Camilla Bissonette, an architectural conservator who
worked on the Statue of Liberty. Her recovery from a coma brought on by a violent
crime is an important part of the plot.
-
- Resnicow, Herbert
The Gold Frame
1984 -
A murder mystery in which one of the characters is an obsessive, paranoid, anal-
retentive conservator.
-
- Roberts, Nora
Homeport
New York: Jove Books, 1999. -
Art theft and forgery of Renaissance bronzes in a glamorized world of archeometry
labs in Florence and art institutes in New England complete with "labs", conservation
studios, students, and opening nights of exhibitions.
-
- Roth, Phillip
The Dying Animal
2001 -
One of academic David Kepesh's ex-wives, mentioned but not seen, is an art restorer.
-
- Shapiro, Dani
Family History
Knopf, 2003, 288 p. -
The protagonist is a freelance paintings restorer whose family life is falling apart.
-
- Shoup, Barbara
Faithful Women: A Novel
2000 -
The story moves around in time and place, but includes a detailed description of how
to restore a painting.
-
- Silva, Daniel
The Kill Artist (2000)
The English Assassin (2002)
The Confessor (2003)
A Death in Vienna (2004) -
Spy novels featuring a paintings conservator who is also an Israeli agent.
- Sontag, Susan
The Volcano Lover
1992 -
Several pages about the Portland Vase (British Museum Collection) being shattered
by a vandal in 1845, repaired, and reconstructed again in 1989. This description is a
counterpoint to a discussion of whether a reputation, once shattered, can be put back
together.
-
- Strutton, Bill
The Carpaccio Caper
New York, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1973, 191 p. -
Forgery and descriptions of conservation.
-
- Styron, Alexandra
All the Finest Girls
2001 -
A New York art restorer faces some ugly truths about her family when she seeks out
the kin of the Caribbean housekeeper who raised her.
-
- Swan, Thomas
The Cézanne Chase
New York: Newmarket Press, 1997. 307 p. -
Two Cezanne portraits are destroyed in an attempt to manipulate the black market in
art; many descriptions of the forensic examination of works of art to determine provenance/authenticity.
-
- Truman, Margaret
Murder in the White House
1980 -
Conservation is not central to the plot. However, a conservator from the National
gallery must determine whether or not a Caravaggio can travel.
-
- Unsworth, Barry
Stone Virgin
1986 -
A story which moves from 1432, when a likeness of the Madonna is carved, to 1972,
when a young Englishman comes to Venice to restore it.
-
- Vickers, Salley
Miss Garnet's Angel
2000 -
A romance novel featuring two conservators in Venice who are restoring mosaics and
stonework in a fourteenth century chapel.
-
- Wesley, Mary
Second Fiddle
1989 -
The main character is Laura Thornby, an art restorer who divides her time between
London, where she repairs classical statues, and her mother's home in the country.
-
- Winthrop, Elizabeth
Island Justice
1998
- A mystery featuring a furniture conservator.
- Zuravleff, Mary Kay
The Bowl is Already Broken
2005
- The novel opens with a precious Chinese bowl tumbling down
the marble steps of the Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C.
As the museum's reluctant acting director, Promise must contend
with the broken bowl on top of her unexpected pregnancy, conniving
colleagues, and the fate of the museum.
Short Stories
- Disher, Garry
Striaght, Bent and Barbara Vine
1998 -
A collection of short stories including one in which a conservator restoring a flood-damaged Venetian crypt suspects that he has been implicated in a murder.
- Mason, Bobbie Ann
With Jazz Published in The New Yorker, February 26, 1990
- The main characters daughter is divorced from a museum director who
restored old pieces of pottery (Note: "He made a good living.")
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- Warner, Sylvia Townsend
"A Saint (Unknown) With Two Donors,"
in One Thing Leading to Another
, 1984
- Mr. Edom and his assistant, Mr. Collins, "restore" a stolen statue
- "The Three Cats,"
in One Thing Leading to Another, 1984
-
A mention of family portraits being cleaned by the caretaker at the auction rooms who
does it in his spare time using a cleaner called Roll It Off.
Children's Fiction
- Macauley, David
Angelo
2002 -
This picture book features a story about the relationship that develops between a
restorer of historic buildings in Rome and a pigeon who dwells on one of the buildings.
Films
- Der Amerikanische Freunde (The American Friend)
Directed by Wim Wenders, Germany, 1977
- An art restorer becomes involved in a murderous scheme in this existential take on the American gangster film.
- A Month in the
Country
Directed by Pat O'Connor, English, 1987
- A restorer of wall paintings in a country church and an
archeologist (played by Kenneth Branagh) working nearby solve a
mystery using their two disciplines.
- Antigua vida mia (My ancient life)
Directed by Hector Olivera, Argentina, 2001
- The film tells the story of two friends, a singer/songwriter and an art restorer. The script is based on a novel of the same name by Chilean writer Marcela Serrano.
- A Question of
Attribution
Directed by John Schlesinger, 1992 (made for British television)
- Adapted from the play by Alan Bennett. James Fox as Sir Anthony
Blunt, Director of the Courtauld, whose involvement in the
Burgess-Maclean-Philby spy scandal of the 1950s is revealed while he
is restoring a Titian from the collection
- Barocco/Baroque
Directed by Claudio Sestrieri, Italian, 1991
- Human emotions in the modern world of telecommunications are
examined through the relationships of Valeria, a student in fine art
restoration
- Belle ar Bar
Italian, 1995
- Romantic comedy about the friendship between an unhappily
married male restorer and a transvestite who meet years after a
childhood friendship when they are trapped in an elevator (The
restorer is obsessive, methodical and phobic.)
- Born
Romantic
Directed by David Kane, British, 2000
- Romantic comedy with a main character who works as a paintings
conservator in London.
- Deceived
Directed by Damian Harris, 1991
- Goldie Hawn and her best friend/business partner run a
conservation studio in New York. Life is great until her husband is
revealed to be a bigamist, fraud, faker and killer. A conservation
scientist is killed in the initial sequence after performing a
microchemical fizz test on an Egyptian artifact
- Domani (Tomorrow)
Directed by Francesca Archibugi, Italy, 2001
- An ensemble film set in a small Umbrian town after an earthquake. One of the many story lines includes that of an English art conservator and his troubled wife.
- Don't Look Now
Directed by Nicholas Roeg, late 1970s
- Donald Sutherland is in Venice restoring a church (but this can
be overlooked amidst occult nuances, sex and bloody murder).
- El Pájaro de
la felicidad (The Bird of Happiness)
Directed by Pilar Miró 1993
- A Spanish paintings restorer is brutally raped and comes to
terms with the experience.
- Ghostbusters
II
Directed by Ivan Reitman, 1989
- Sigourney Weaver making ends meet by working in a paintings
restoration studio on a possessed painting under the supervision of
a lecherous, soon to be possessed, "European" restorer.
- Hard Rain
Also known as The Flood
Directed by Mikael Salomon, 1998
- Minnie Driver plays a church restorer who manages to save her
work and her town from rising Waters and marauding robbers
- Head Over
Heels
Directed by Mark S. Waters, 2001
- An art restorer working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art falls
for a fashion executive played by Freddie Prinze, Jr.
- Home for the
Holidays
Directed by Jody Foster, 1995
- Holly Hunter plays a paintings conservator who goes home for
Thanksgiving after being fired by her museum because they lost their
NEA funding
- Hudson Hawk
Directed by Michael Lehmann, USA, 1991
- Andie MacDowell plays a Vatican art restorer in this movie that has Bruce Willis involved in a scheme to steal three paintings in order to retrieve an alchemical device.
- Il Momento
dell'Avventura (The Moment of Adventure)
Directed by Faliero Rosati, Italian, 1983
- A museum restorer makes copies of sculpture to replace the
originals which he sells to a dealer. He discovers an ancient map to
an undiscovered archaeological site and sets off with a forger to
find the treasure.
- La casa dale finestre che ridono (The House with the Windows that Laughed)
Directed by Pupi Avati, Italy, 1976
- A horror movie set in Italy in the 1950's. A young art restorer arrives in a small town to restore and finish a fresco. Bad things happen.
- La Madre
Muerta
Directed by Juanma Bajo Ullöa, 1993
- A paintings restorer is killed in a bungled burglary. Years
later the burglar develops a relationship with her mute, mentally
ill daughter.
- Leonardon Ikkunat (Leonardo's Windows)
Directed by Pirjo Honkasalo; Finland, 1986
- Maria and Marco, two restorers who have been working for 12
years on The Last Supper begin to identify with the figures in the
painting
- Love, etc.
Directed by Marion Vernoux, France, 1996
- The film follows three main characters through love, friendship, suspicion and remorse. One of these is an art conservator played by Charlotte Gainsbourg who was nominated for a Cesar for this role.
- Manchas de sangre en
un coche nuevo (Blood Stains in a New Car)
Directed by Antonio Mercero, Spanish, 1975
- A wealthy male art restorer does not stop to help at a terrible
accident because he does not want to get his new car dirty
- Meridian: Mark of the
Beast
Also known as Kiss of the Beast and
Phantoms
Directed by Charles Band, 1990
- Sherilyn Fenn plays the Lady of the castle. Her best friend
works in an Italian restoration studio and is restoring a 15th
century painting from the castle by brushing away an ugly modern
painting which was painted over it (A proto-Twin Peaks European
production)
- Michael
Directed by Nora Ephron, 1996
- An angel puts a cue stick through a painting in a pool hall
brawl; the judge at the arraignment claims to know a good
conservator
- Obsession
Directed by Brian DePalma, 1976.
- Genevieve Bujold plays a paintings conservator/technician who is
cleaning a mural in an Italian chapel. The film is inspired by
Hitchcock's Vertigo.
- Roma
Directed by Frederico Fellini, 1972
- Contains a scene in which workmen building a subway line uncover
a brilliant-colored ancient Roman mosaic which, exposed to air and
light for the first time in centuries, fades and vanishes before
their eyes.
- Running Woman
Directed by Rachel Samuels, USA, 1998
- An art restorer goes undercover to track down carjackers who killed her son. (Warning: bad reviews!)
- The Relic
Directed by Peter Hyams, 1997
- Although conservators figure more prominently in the book (see
plot summary under Books), Linda Hunt brings some undistinguished
hunks of rock to the restoration studio--a dark hole with one female
presiding--where she uses a flexible shaft and rotating bit to clean
the statue, reassembles it and gives the audience its first real
look at the monster
- The Seventh
Sign
Directed by Carl Schultz, 1988
- Demi Moore plays a pregnant paintings restorer who is also the
reincarnation of Mary Magdalene. The latter information takes
precedence for the film's plot and, although she saves the souls of
all humanity, she does not save any art on screen.
- Tea With
Mussolini
Directed by Franco Zeffirelli, 1999 - An amateur artist played by
Judi Dench and her friends save the medieval church of San Gemignano
during World War II. Dench then retouches the damaged frescoes.
- Toy Story
2
Directed by Ash Brannon &John Lasseter, 1999
- Scene showing Woody being restored.
- Un Etrange
Voyage
Also known as On the Track, Les Voyageurs,
The Travellers, A Strange Voyage, and
A Strange Journey.
Directed by Alain Cavalier, 1980
- The mother of a middle aged male art restorer disappears during
a train journey. The restorer and his estranged daughter
investigate.
- Uncovered
Also known as The Flemish Board (La Tabla de
Flandes)
Directed by Jim McBride, Great Britain and Spain, 1994
- (See Books for a description of the story). Kate Beckinsale plays Julia, the art restorer heroine.
- Vasarma's Lovers
Directed by Madhurika Sona Jain, USA, 2000
- This film is 12 minutes long. Vasarma, the great Indian artist of the 18th century, is famous for his lost masterpiece which he tore upon the death of his lover. Over 200 years later, one half of the same painting surfaces in an art conservator's studio in British Columbia.
- Le Violon
rouge (The Red Violin)
Directed by François Girard, Canadian, 1998
- The movie follows the life of a red violin from 17th century
Italy to late 20th century Montreal. The violin is almost destroyed
in China during the Cultural Revolution, but is saved and sent to an
auction house in Montreal where Samuel L. Jackson is a specialist
who traces its provenance.
From a review
by Steve Rhodes
"The plot is an intriguing one. A dishonest violin restorer, Charles
Morritz ([Samuel L.] Jackson), believes he has located Nicolo
Bussotti's famous red violin. Described as the "single most perfect
acoustical machine" ever, the violin has had a long and troubled
history. The movie skips back to its controversial birth in 1681 and
then flashes forward and backward in time as it traces the violin's
world travels."
- What Dreams May Come
Directed by Vincent Ward, USA, 1998
- Robin Williams' wife is a painter and art conservator in this film set primarily in a visually stunning afterlife.
Plays
- Thebus, Jessica (based on Richard Cahan's book)
Building Sympathy: The Richard Nickel Story
Produced at the Center Theater Ensemble, Chicago, Nov.- Dec. 1997
- An architectural preservationist/photographer and his quest to
preserve Chicago landmarks
-
- Edgar, David
Pentecost
First staged at the Royal Shakespeare Company in October 1994
- In a Romanesque church in southeastern Europe, an heroic
revolutionary mural is found to be covering a Byzantine wall
painting. The political thriller unfolds as conservators expose the
underlying painting and prepare to remove it safely.
-
- Kramer, Sherry
What A Man Weighs
1990
- The lives and loves of staff in a book conservation laboratory.
.
-
- Lessac, Michael
House of Cards
1993
- An architect who has spent several years working on an archeological
restoration in
Mexico returns home to North Carolina with her two children,
one of whom is autistic.
Television Shows
- CSI
American television program
- Episode involving a book conservator replacing original volumes
with fakes while conducting an affair with the curator who ends up
killing her.
- Taggat
British television program
- Gruff Scottish sleuth who meets the restorer from the Glasgow
Art Gallery and his wife who are buying his house.
- Bean
1997
- Mr. Bean (Roland Atkinson) is a London museum guard who is hated
by his co-workers who send him to Los Angeles in the company of
"Whistler's Mother". He is mistaken as an art expert by the
well-meaning curator of an L.A. museum. Bean's eccentric behavior,
which includes the surface cleaning of the aforementioned painting,
almost cost him his job and family.
-
- Early Edition
- The main character (who knows about the future from an early
edition of the newspaper that he receives) tries to prevent the
theft of a painting in the Chicago Museum of Art; a young paintings
restorer is cleaning the painting when he arrives at the Museum.
-
- Law and Order
Summer of 1996
- The murderer of a coin dealer is a talented and obsessive
paintings restorer.
-
- Midsummer Murders: Beyond the Grave"
British TV Series
- A painting is vandalized and a conservator is brought to restore
it, but she becomes frightened in the supposedly haunted museum. In
separate incidents, she sees a fire in the museum and drops her
large painting to run and later she watches transfixed as the
"ghost" slowly pushes a sculpture off its table to shatter on the
floor.
-
- Millennium
- A Russian icon restorer is murdered early in the episode which
involves a conspiracy around Chernobyl.
-
- Morse
British television program
- Middle aged artist who restores art in his dry periods while
conducting an affair with a teenaged pupil.
Television Commercials
- "Crest White Strips"
Appeared July 2001
- Version 1: An art restorer named Barbara works on a ceiling
painting as a narrator voices the wonderful brightening powers of
"Crest White Strips"
Version 2: An objects conservator polishes silver from a wrecked
ship
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