Project Objectives
This multi year project—a collaboration the Getty Conservation Institute, the Getty Foundation, and the J. Paul Getty Museum—was developed to address the need for educational resources and training opportunities in the structural treatment of panel paintings. The project will include a symposium (May 17–18, 2009), a survey of training needs and opportunities, and a number of workshops and conservation training fellowships.

	Visit of the advisory group and several of the project team members to the paintings conservation studio of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where they are shown around by George Bisacca. Photo: Foekje Boersma

Project Overview
The unique structure of panel paintings—as well as the historic variations and different aging behaviors of wood and paint layers—have long challenged both conservators and collectors. Today, only a few conservators have the experience necessary to deal with the increasingly complex conservation issues posed by these works. To address these challenges, the GCI, the Getty Foundation, and the Getty Museum have joined together to develop a multi-year Panel Paintings Initiative designed to increase specialized training in the structural conservation of panel paintings and to advance the treatment of these works in collections around the world. The initiative will also raise general awareness of panel painting conservation among painting and wood conservators and curators.

Guided by an international advisory group, the initiative will include:

• a symposium on the structural conservation of panel paintings;
• a survey of training needs and opportunities and the development of training workshops and residencies;
• creation of a Web-based resource for sharing teaching and reference materials.

	Visit of the advisory group and several of the project team members to the Opificio delle Pietre Dure e Laboratori di Restauro, Firenze, Settore Dipinti Mobili, where they are shown around by Marco Ciatti. The group discusses structural conservation issues of the panel painting 'Madonna col Bambino' by Cimabue, Castelfiorentino (Firenze), Museo di Santa Verdiana. Photo: Foekje Boersma

The advisory group plays a key role in guiding the initiative and collecting information for the survey. The advisory group also assists the initiative in the development of the other components of the project. In preparation for launching this initiative, the advisory group met with the project team members, in Febuary 2008 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and in June 2008 at the Opificio delle Pietre Dure e Laboratori di Restauro in Florence.

The initiative builds on a previous symposium on panel paintings that was organized by the Getty Museum and the GCI in 1995.

Last updated: August 2008