by Crispian Riley-Smith

As a dealer in drawings, watercolours and pastels for the last twelve years I have handled many pictures. I understand how pictures need to be presented to private individuals so that they may be hung in a domestic setting and last for years to come. I also appreciate what museums and institutions require. In addition, I worked in an auction environment for eight years and I have seen many drawings coming directly from private collections. I understand how drawings have been handled over the centuries and how this affects their current and future appearance. If a drawing has been cared for it can be as fresh as the day it was done; however, in reality, pictures do get damaged or reach us today in a less than ideal condition. But you can help a picture survive for another few hundred years if you follow a number of practical steps to help avoid some of the damage caused by light, extreme fluctuating temperatures, relative humidity, pollution, pests, poor handling and storage.
To start with the mount. A drawing can suffer from a poor mount and this is evident in the form of foxing. Foxing is caused by a bacteria or mould which grows on acidic paper. If the drawing is in contact with boards containing unpurified wood pulp, it may turn the paper brown or brittle or cause mount burn. To avoid this, use a conservation mount which consists of a mount, a window and an undermount (figure 1). To provide adequate physical and environ-mental protection both boards should be at least 4-6 sheets thick. The board should be hinged along one edge using either a conservation gummed white paper or linen tape (figure 2). Figures 1 to 4 show this process on a pastel drawing by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805). The pastel drawing has been window floated, which means that all the drawing can be seen and it is not gripped by the mount. This is preferable, if there is no damage to the drawing's edges, since it allows a 'true' visual appearance of the drawing. Nothing is hidden. Since this drawing is in chalk there is a large mount, and it is advised that there should be 5-6mm between the top of the drawing and the glass. The hinges should never drum the drawing to a mount; if too firmly secured to a mount support, the drawing will split. The hinges should be applied to the top edge of the drawing and stuck to the undermount (figure 3). They should be easy to remove at a future date. Ideally they should be freshly made of wheat or rice starch paste. Conservators like to use Japanese paper.