Works of art are very sensitive to climatic changes and general environment. Great deal of attention has to be given to the care of these. Preventive conservation amounts to taking good care and maintaining conducive environs. Interceptive conservation is treatment of a damaged or deteriorating piece of art by an expert.

Preventive conservation includes:

• Proper framing of a piece of art
• Proper displaying of the piece taking care to keep away from direct sunlight
• Keep the piece away from excessive heat, cold or humidity
• Wipe/Dust clean with soft, dry rag.
• Don’t lean canvas on nail or some like object which exerts pressure.

Transportation

• If you must transport the work, lay a flat piece of cardboard, mat board or similar firm material over the front and back surfaces, and then wrap it in bubble wrap or Styrofoam wrap.
• Try not to keep it wrapped up for too long as to avoid moisture buildup, which might cause damage to the work.

The Essentials of Proper Frame:

• A mat window and backboard made of 100% rag board or the lignin-free, alkaline-buffered mat board especially for preservation purposes
• Be sure that your hands are very clean, or wear white cotton gloves. Better yet, mat, frame, or store the works in a manner that permits viewing and transporting without direct handling.
• Attachment of the artwork to the mat or mount by hinging with high-quality Japanese paper and a permanent, non-staining, reversible adhesive. Homemade starch paste is the choice of conservators. Avoid commercial tapes, including those advertised as archival. If you want to try to do your own matting, a paper conservator can advise you about sources of supplies.
• Protective glazing, either glass or rigid acrylic should cover the artwork. The artwork must not be in direct contact with the glazing material. Ultraviolet filtering products, available in glass as well as plastic, are recommended to protect against the most destructive component of light. Note that acrylics carry a static charge and must not be used with pastels, charcoal, or other powdery or flaking medium.
• An additional protective layer of sturdy, lignin-free cardboard at the back of the frame. The frame should also be well sealed to discourage entry of air.

Cleaning Measures and Techniques

A few simple measures can give a piece of art a much longer life. All you are required to do is to remember a few basic things:

• Clean the surface and the back of a painting from time to time especially if it is kept in storage.
• To prevent dust accumulation on unglazed surface of paintings they should be hung inclined top forward.
• Accumulated dust should be blown of with compressed air or vacuumed off with a soft clean brush.
• For dirt that cannot be blown or vacuumed, the use of distilled water or saliva on white cotton swabs is the best method. Small swabs should be used to clean small areas.
• To clean Acrylic paintings solvent-based resins can be used. However, since the solubility gap between paint layer and protective varnish is very small one has to be very selective about such solvents.
• To clean Oil paintings, cotton swabs dampened with saliva removes accumulated dirt. Mineral spirit should be used in small quantities only where the dirt is a little greasy without dissolving the varnish.
• To clean Egg Tempera and Encaustic paintings, slightly damp cotton should be rubbed and then the surface should be buffed up with a piece of silk cloth.
• Dents and bulges in a canvas should be dabbed with a moist squeezed out sponge. Doing this will shrink the canvas around where the bulge is. Excess dampening could result in excess shrinking which may cause flaking of the paint. So the canvas should be moistened as sparingly as possible.
• Using a backboard acts as a preventive measure and an effective way for added protection of a canvas. It acts as a physical barrier to water spillages and the accumulation of dirt. It also prevents moisture changes that may cause possible harm to the paint on canvas.