The talk explores the ways in which a painting starts to change - or is sometimes altered – as soon as it is completed, and how the conservator has the exciting job of uncovering what has been hidden either by the action of time, or deliberately, by an another hand.The changes illustrated in the case histories have altered the history and the meaning of the paintings, and some research is often needed to find explanations for them -an education for the conservator!   The talk also considers pictures that have been altered by the artist – and the particular social pressures that have forced the changes.  Ideas about which state of an altered painting is the authentic one are fluid.  Consideration is given to an artist who challenges our ideas about the identity of  the artist, and the conservator’s response is to see differently both her own and her client’s roles

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ROSALIND WHITEHOUSE

An MA (Honours) degree in Fine Art at the University of Edinburgh was followed by training on the Government Conservation and Restoration scheme at the National Gallery, in London. Later, as a Fellow of the British Association of Painting Conservator-Restorers, I contributed articles to The Picture Restorer and as an accredited member of ICON, served on the Professional Development Committee. A research interest in early work of Sir Alfred Munnings led to a conference presentation 'From Munnings to Mondrian', a study of degradation of cadmium yellow paints, in collaboration with Dr Nicholas Eastaugh (2001), and in 2016 I will present a paper to the conference 'A Changing Art: Nineteenth Centry Painting Practice and Conservation', at the Wallace Collection. Working freelance in East Anglia, my studio works for Churches, public bodies and private collections. A recent project was the cleaning and restoration in public of Constable's The Millstream at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich.