TV, FILM & RADIO
Conserving the past
Secrets of the Museum / BBC One, July
The business of preparing exhibits for public display can be fraught with unexpected difficulties. Just ask the V&A’s Elania, one of the curators Secrets of the Museum follows as she prepares a display revealing that watercolours, not oil paintings, were often the medium of choice during the Renaissance.
As part of the display, Elania wants to include a watercolour that hasn’t been seen for more than a century. But there’s a problem. The surface of Christ, St Paul and the Theological Virtues(c1660), a preparatory drawing for a larger oil painting by the Flemish painter Jacob Jordaens, is covered in white dots. Unless conservator Alan can solve the problem, the watercolour may not be in a fit state to be seen by the public.
