CARE OF WORKS OF ART IN WAR-TIME

Abstract

BY ‘care’ in normal times is probably understood due conservation and maintenance ; this in fact is the elemental work which devolves upon curators of any collection of works of art. In times like the present, however, two novel aspects appear: one is protection against enemy action, and the other-a kind of dependent variable-is the greatly increased difficulty of ensuring proper care (in the usual sense) which the necessity for such protection tends to bring about. In other words, there is a distinct possibility of devising excellent 'cover' but at the same time exposing the treasures to such risks of damage and deterioration by inadequate transport and storage arrangements, that the verdict of posterity may well be, “If only they had been left where they were.”