AN essential component of the art market is conservation and restoration, but they tend to be mentioned only when interventions turn out to have been embarrassing. A certain ‘Leonardo’ and that Ecce Mono (Behold the Monkey) in the Spanish church come to mind. From time to time, I hope to celebrate some conservation successes, beginning with an impressive operation in Monaco and continuing before long with the triumphant restoration of the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris.
‘Wonderful things!’ Howard Carter responded a century ago when asked what his torch beam showed inside the newly breached burial chamber of Tutankhamun. Christian Gautierand his team must have had a similar, if more modest thrill recently, when they inserted a camera through a small hole in a frescoed ceiling in the Palais de Monaco, seat of the Monégasque princely family. Above the 17th-century work was another intact and strongly coloured ceiling, frescoed a century before. Mr Gautier is the coordinator of an international team that has been working on the restoration of the palace since 2013.
