Cupid, Canvas, Circle, Plane: a conservation-intervention at the intersection between conservation and conceptual fine art practice

Cupid and the Curious Moaning of Kenfig Burrows was an exhibition held at Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea from 27th September 2019 – 18th March 2020 . The exhibition featured an oil painting, Cupid (c.1650) installed alongside a series of photographic works by artist Sophy Rickett.

For the duration of the exhibition, the oil painting was exhibited with the caption (in vinyl wall text): 34. Cupid with Surface Dirt / 35. Circle on a Plane. Originally attributed to C17th artist Mario di Fiori (1603-1673), the painting had not been exhibited publicly for decades, due to the layer of coal dust and dirt that had accumulated on its surface while it was stored in a boiler house.

Unusually, Cupid was put on public display in a partially restored condition; a small circular section of surface dirt having been cleaned from the surface of the painting to reveal the startling luminosity of the sleeping cherub’s eye.

This partial restoration was undertaken by Glynn Vivian Art Gallery’s conservation officer Jenny Williamson following discussions with Sophy Rickett – in what they came to understand, in subsequent conversations, as a ‘conservation-intervention’.

In this paper, Rickett and Williamson will consider and discuss some of processes employed at different stages of the project, with a particular overall interest in how the notion of institutional ethics and responsibility can be iterated and explored in different ways.

The paper will conclude by proposing the conservation-intervention’ as a replicable strategy – a methodological approach to engagement that, where adopted by other institutions could enable / provide space for that institution to:

•‘(re)activate’ historical objects in their possession to bring new meanings and new understandings
•to counter ‘intuitive’ and/ or received ideas already in general circulation about the collection, its meaning and its provenance
•expose / reveal the hidden cultural labour of the conservationist, giving their work (and decision making) a more public facing interface
•contribute to / participate in current debates around institutional responsibility, culpability and ethics (both historical and contemporary)