Jobs

PAINTINGS CONSERVATOR
Full-time, Fixed term (8 months)
£29,816 – £32,645 per annum (Band 5)

We have an exciting opportunity for a specialist Paintings Conservator to join us to deliver paintings conservation across our collection. It is based within the Collections Care Directorate, reporting to one of the Senior Paintings Conservators. It sits alongside and compliments the other conservation specialisms of paper, frames, and time-based media.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Paintings conservation and research (80%)
• Assisting with the planning and programming of paintings conservation work required to deliver the loans, displays, exhibitions, acquisitions, and collections care activities.
• Recording work undertaken and liaising with colleagues to highlight any anticipated issues with the delivery of the work programme and advise if additional requests can be accommodated.
• Undertaking conservation work required for exhibitions and displays of paintings, within NGS and at non-NGS sites, including advising on the suitability of works of art for transport and display, condition checking, conservation treatments and application of preventive conservation measures.
• Undertaking paintings conservation work required to improve standards of collections care, such as condition surveys of parts of the collection and remedial treatments.
• Documentation – requesting photography, communicating findings, and providing data for entry onto the NGS collections management database (Multi Mimsy) and NGS website.
• Responding to any incident reports which relate to paintings.
• Liaising with Conservation Technicians and Art Handling Technicians to ensure works are safely packed and installed, which may involve designing specialist storage and display cases.
• Undertaking art historical research relating to parts of the NGS paintings collection, and conservation research relating to modes of deterioration, conservation materials and techniques.

Common Areas of Responsibility (20%)

These areas of responsibility are common across all the conservator roles, although some of the specifics will vary depending on the conservator’s specialism.

• Commissioning and supervising work by freelance conservators and specialists.
• Undertaking courier duties of relevance to the conservation specialism.
• Devising work programmes for and supervising interns, placement students and volunteers.
• Providing specialist advice and training for colleagues and answering external enquiries.
• Working with budget holders to create, review, manage and maintain budget for areas of responsibility.
• Maintaining conservation and analytical equipment, advising on purchases of new equipment, monitoring levels of conservation materials and requesting additional stock as appropriate.
• Promoting the activity of the specialist role and of the Conservation Department as a whole, both internally and externally, by giving talks, tours, and presentations and writing content for traditional publications and social media.
• Developing and participating in relevant external networks and collaborations, both nationally and internationally.
• Maintaining and developing skills and knowledge in conservation and the cultural heritage sector.

Application Deadline: Sunday 26/06/2022