Chandrahasa Bhat

My internship in the paper conservation department at the Hamilton Kerr Institute at the University of Cambridge was really interesting and exciting. It is not an exaggeration if I sawy it is a well equipped conservation studio with highly experienced conservators. My aim was to learn some advanced techniques implemented in conservation, mainly on Indian miniature paintings and western paintings on paper. I was looking for various techniques on consolidation, lining of paper paintings, relaxing of cockled and wrinkled paintings, filling of missing areas and mounting techniques. During my short internship I had pportunities to work with these problems, to do some experiments, and I had success in my attempts. During my internship I worked on six different types of objects and visited several conservation studios. My full report provides details of these. I am happy to say that I learned a lot more than I expected. I am sure that in my return to INTACH studio I will do a better job. I was also able to examine the Indian collections at the Victoria and Albert Museum