The Resurrection of the Messiah: Restoring a Masterpiece

Join us for a talk by Scott Nolley, the art conservator who restored The Messiah, an 1814 oil painting by Benjamin West in the Muscarelle Permanent Collection.

Free and open to all. This talk is presented as a part of Art Conservation Now: A Symposium on Current Issues and Careers, Sept 25-26, sponsored by the W&M Department of Art & Art History, Department of Chemistry and the Muscarelle Museum of Art.

About the Speaker
Scott Webster Nolley is an Art Conservator specializing in the treatment of paintings and objects. He received a B.A. in Art Conservation form Virginia Commonwealth University and an M.A. in Art Conservation from Buffalo State College in 1996. He has worked with the collections of museums and at historic sites the world over, including works from the British Royal Collections, the Gharapuri Temples on the Island of Elephanta in Mumbai India and, closer to home, The Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City Missouri and The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Scott has provided technical assistance and methods development for projects that include the wall paintings at Pictograph Cave in Billings Montana, The Astoria Column in Astoria Oregon and the 2006 restoration of Virginia’s State Capitol Building. For a number of years he held the post of the Paintings and Objects Conservator for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Conservator of Exhibitions and Loans at the National Museum of American History and recently as the Head of Conservation at the Smithsonian Institution’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Scott has conserved numerous works including those by artists such as Titian, Caravaggio, Giordano, Monet, Mondrian, Rubens and Picasso, and his research into the aging characteristics of polymers, the development of exacting, low-tech methods for the identification of historic dyes, and the use of laser technology in the cleaning of sensitive artworks continues to be central to his varied interests. Publications on the social history and fabrication of Jean Antoine Houdon”s marble portrait sculpture of George Washington and his analytical research on the collective works of Edward Hicks, carried out in concert with the traveling exhibition The Kingdoms of Edward Hicks, have been published and presented widely. He has received research fellowships from the Getty Foundation and The Attingham Trust and continues to mentor students and interns in the various aspects of conservation philosophy and technique.

Benjamin West | American, 1738-1820 | The Messiah (detail), 1814 | Oil on panel | Acquired with funds from the Board of Visitors Muscarelle Museum of Art Endowmnet | 2013.006