David Stein & Co. Conservation of Fine Art

18/02/2022

A wonderful short film from the National Gallery, London about the ongoing conservation treatment to 'The Nativity' by Piero della Francesca.

12/02/2021

15/05/2020

Explore a Hyper-Resolution Rendering of Rembrandt’s ‘The Night Watch’ Online

The Rijksmuseum has released a giant, hyper-resolution image of Rembrandt van Rijn’s most famous painting: The Night Watch. Now available to view online, the 44.8-gigapixel rendering enables researchers and art fans alike to pore over the 1642 masterpiece’s details, from its brushstrokes its cracks and stray paint splatters.

Lockdown delays restoration of The Night Watch, but it can be viewed online in ‘minute detail’

14/04/2020

We hope our colleagues, collectors and all those in our lively arts community are doing well during this surreal time.

David Stein & Co is continuing to look after art - restoring and conserving artworks and collections, as we have done for thirty years. Our studio remains open and we are safely and happily working within the current COVID-19 guidelines.

If you have been thinking of having a painting, work on paper or artwork cleaned, restored or reframed, then now may be the perfect time for treating the timeless.

Send us a photograph of your artwork and we can provide an online estimate of costs.

You don’t have to leave the house as we offer our dedicated art carrier service for safe collection and delivery.

Our studio remains open by appointment:

Phone 02 9360 2201

Email [email protected]

18/01/2020

The Bundanon homestead housed some of Australia's most precious artworks, worth $43 million.
The ongoing fire threat has forced the homestead's caretakers to evacuate all the art and move it to Sydney.
A new fire-proof gallery is being constructed, but it won't be ready for two years.

Artworks worth $43 million from some of the nations best-known artists are being expertly moved from their bush home in the NSW south coast hinterland to be stored in Sydney

02/12/2019

https://news.artnet.com/market/queen-elizabeth-bonhams-portrait-1717515

The portrait of the young monarch, found in California, has been attributed to painter Steven van der Meulen by experts at Bonhams London.

02/12/2019

So proud of our team winning AICCM 'Treatment of the Year' for The Stella Project at Grosvenor Place!

The AICCM Awards were presented at the Arts Centre Melbourne on the evening of the 13th of November, the first night of the 2019 National Conference. The AICCM Awards are a chance to recognise the dedicated, exceptional work of Australian conservators, conservation students and volunteers.

02/09/2019

"If an object’s parts are replaced over time, does it remain the same object? If restoration is merely replication, then does it not become an act of enshrining, fictionalising or even fetishising the past – a nostalgic theatre of authenticity? Or, rather, in merging the old with the new, can it provide us with a teleological understanding of time, whereby the present improves the past as much as the other way around?"

How conservation efforts can end up fictionalizing history

15/07/2019

Very proud and privileged for our conservation team to be restoring the 14 Stations of the Cross at the magnificent St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney. A hugely rewarding project, currently underway and to be completed next year. Thank you to the wonderful team at St Mary's Cathedral, TED installation crew and Elizabeth Fortescue at The Sunday Telegraph for featuring us this Sunday.

08/05/2019

"A hidden Cupid in Vermeer’s 'Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window', one of the world’s most famous paintings, is set to resurface on the canvas after two and a half centuries behind a layer of paint. During restoration work, conservators discovered, to their surprise, that the naked figure—which dominates the upper right section of the picture—was overpainted long after the artist’s death."

Laboratory tests revealed "sensational" discovery that the figure in Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window was overpainted decades after the artist’s death