The Problem of Restoration in Teaching Ancient Art

Abstract

The teaching of the history of art is naturally dependent on the examples which have been preserved from any period. Nowhere in the wealth of material which has come down to us is this more evident than in the area of ancient civilizations. Chance and time have left only meager clues to the development of artistic style and what is left to us is only too often falsified by the attempts of man to make whole what is no longer perfect. Styles in conservation have changed over the centurcis and the current attitudes tend not to allow the carving away of damaged parts of sculpture to be replaced with “whole” restorations. Pieces are still restored in slightly less permanent materials and it is often difficult without firsthand inspection to know what parts are the original.