Hospital For Old Masters (1968)

London. C/Us of detail of a painting, ’The Raising of Lazarus’ by Sebastiano; L/S of people looking at the painting in the National Gallery. Various shots in the Conservation Department show Chief Restorer Arthur Lucas examining a painting by Turner through a binocular-microscope. Other workers in the department are seen restoring paintings; cleaning them with special fluid; melting gelatin onto the surface of cracked paintings; retouching eroded spots and filling cracks with putty. Most of the workers wear magnifying glasses. Arthur Lucas studies two transparencies on a light-box that show the painting ’Bacchus and Ariadne’ by Titian before and after cleaning. Several shots then show him prising a canvas lining from a painting, then chipping glue from the back of the painting. Note: there is correspondence on file plus two news cuttings about Mr Lucas; it apparently took 16 years to restore ’The Raising of Lazarus’. Cuts exist - see separate record. FILM ID: A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ