CHAIR´S observations

Climate Change, Collection Care and Conservation

BY PETER MILES

I would like to wish you all a very happy new year and let us hope that 2022 will see some normality return to our lives.

We were delighted that our AGM in November was so well supported. Thank you very much to all those of you who were able to make it, enabling us to achieve our quorum. It is always a relief to do so! If we are not quorate then we are unable to conduct any business and so a resolution was passed at the AGM to reduce the quorate number for future AGMs, but also to permit us to hold electronic or ‘hybrid’ meetings should we need to do so.

As you know Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is currently closed, but we are looking forward to seeing some of the galleries reopen in a few months time, to coincide with the Commonwealth Games. More details about this can be found on pages 14-15.

At the AGM Jane Thompson-Webb, Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT)’s Conservation Team Leader, gave us a presentation on the restoration and conservation of the Morris & Co ‘Holy Grail Tapestries’. The Friends have contributed £15,000 to BMT’s fundraising campaign for two high-profile conservation projects: the re-glazing of Edward Burne-Jones’ ‘The Star of Bethlehem’ and the cleaning and relining of these six Morris & Co ‘Holy Grail Tapestries’. It was very interesting to hear about the project and you can read more on pages 10-11. In addition to this we are delighted that a number of our Members have individually made very generous contributions. Thank you. In her talk, Jane told us that the ‘Holy Grail Tapestries’ are currently being rested but will be moved to Belgium in the near future to be washed and conserved. This reminded me of recent articles I have read on how climate change has impacted the conservation of tapestries and soft furnishings. In a recent interview Kathryn Hallett, Head of Conservation and Collection Care at Historic Royal Palaces, said: ‘Over the last decade we have seen an increase in common clothes moth activity across our sites, often seeing up to three annual breeding cycles, rather than the more usual one or two.’

So longer damper summers and, when it gets cold, turning the heating on, are ideal conditions for breeding for the clothes moth. In addition, furniture beetles are also enjoying this sultry weather, reproducing, and their offspring are looking for food. BMT is very fortunate in not having a problem with insect pests at any of its sites at present. Our wonderful Conservation team monitor for insects on a regular basis. Rest assured that any infestations would be dealt with swiftly!

And finally, if you are having withdrawal symptoms from the PreRaphaelites during BMAG’s closure, then Ford Madox Brown’s ‘The Last of England’ is currently on display at the Barber Institute. It is one of three internationally significant masterpieces which BMT has lent to the Barber Institute for a two-year period. The other two works are the monumental ‘Erminia and the Shepherd’, painted around 1620 by Bolognese painter Guercino, and ‘The Man of Sorrows’, a tiny panel by the Flemish painter Petrus Christus from around 1450. n

‘Quest for the Holy Grail TapestriesVerdure with Deer and Shields’, Designers: Edward Burne-Jones, William Morris and John Henry Dearle; Manufacturer: Morris & Co; 1947M53; Photo by Birmingham Museums Trust, licensed under CC0