The program of restoration of paintings is designed to provide students with the education and training required to prepare them for career as conservators of those material artifacts that are of artistic, historic, or other cultural significance.
The instructional program at Accademia Riaci prepares students for continued professional growth and development throughout their careers and gives them an appreciation of the possibility to contribute to continuing evolution of restoration profession.
The program emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting the aesthetic and cultural significance of artifacts requiring restoration, the scientific and technical means of identifying the materials employed in the fabrication and restoration of artifacts, and the understanding of their properties, the modes and mechanisms of the deterioration of art and restoration materials, the procedures and techniques employed in restoration documentation, the importance of interdisciplinary study that fosters the student’s creative learning in different restoration specialties and allied fields.
Students undertake research projects, laboratory work, and seminars in special areas of restoration such as climatology or the problems ethnographic and archaeological artifacts and gain intensive restoration experience through advanced fieldwork.
Through lecture, studio, and laboratory classes, the students in Master Program at Accademia Riaci concentrate on: The identification of traditional and modern materials and fabrication techniques, the assessment and documentation of the physical condition and the nature and extent of deterioration of the artifact, the measures, which can be taken to prevent damage to the artifact during storage, display, and shipping, the wide variety of techniques and materials employed in the conservation of artifacts, the physical, aesthetic, and pragmatic factors that govern the selection of conservation treatment, the application of physical and chemical principles, as well as scientific methodology to conservation and preservation problems. The course structure of the curriculum provides students with simultaneous instruction in the department’s paintings, paper, and objects specialties as well as in their various subspecialties including ethnographic and archaeological materials. This program structure encourages students to integrate techniques and materials of all restoration specialties in developing solution to restoration problems. The department believes that the greatest educational benefit results when the students is exposed to the full range of problems involved in restoration work and is given experience in selecting and using the appropriate materials and methods. It requires, therefore, that each treatment undertaken by a students be carried through to completion by that student, including consideration of proper housing, display, and, where appropriate, packing and shipping. The department faculty includes nationally and internationally recognized conservator and other conservation specialists with extensive experience in conservation education.
Students will learn various techniques in preserving and restoring historical inheritances through both traditional and the most current techniques. The program emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting the aesthetic and cultural significance of artifacts requiring restoration.
Our courses focus on hands-on training. The instructors are professional restorers who have been active in the field for decades.
Please note our Painting Restoration classes take place in the professors’ studios, located outside the school in Florence.
Note: the "Summer Intensive Course" has the same contents as the "Short Course", but with a double number of lessons. Furthermore, it includes housing and extracurricular activities, and services.
Students will learn various techniques in preserving and restoring historical inheritances through both traditional and the most current techniques. The program emphasizes the importance of understanding and respecting the aesthetic and cultural significance of artifacts requiring restoration.
Our courses focus on hands-on training. The instructors are professional restorers who have been active in the field for decades.
Please note our Painting Restoration classes take place in the professors’ studios, located outside the school in Florence.