Brendan Catney, BC Sculpture Conservation , holds a Diploma in Conservation Studies - The City and Guilds of London Art College (1990-93), and has worked as a sculpture and object conservator for over 30 years, repairing, restoring and conserving sculpture, art objects and architectural detail in hugely varied locations.
At present, he is working as a free-lance sculpture conservator in Ireland. Previously he worked for over twenty years in London with Taylor Pearce Restoration Services and as a sculpture conservator for The V&A conserving The Medieval and Renaissance collection for re-display in to new galleries.
Specialist areas of conservation :
Consolidation, cleaning and repairing broken elements in a wide variety of materials (stone, ceramic, wood, plasters and lime-based stuccos/ Limestone, alabaster, marble, granite, sandstone/ terracotta, glazed ceramics, Coade stone, Pietra dura/ ivory, plaster, wood, polychromed surfaces, leather, wax, scagliola) Dismantling and rebuilding monuments and architectural elements. Accurately matching surface texture, translucency and sheen with colour-matched fills in resins, mortars and plasters. Extensive use of lime mortars –in architectural restorations, sculpture and in stucco type modelling using lime putty and Hydraulic limes. Designing and creating purpose specific lime mortars with graded and colour appropriate aggregates. Mould-making and casting. - Designing and creating multi-piece moulds with supporting outer jackets. -Moulds of silicon rubbers and outer jackets of plaster, Jesmonite and/or glass-fibre. Casts in plaster, crystacal, cement/stone dust mixes, wax, polyester resin. Gilding. Water gilding and oil gilding with both loose leaf and transfer gold. Re-touching and fine colour-matching with artists acrylic colours. Designing and constructing complex packing solutions. Designing and fabricating stainless steel armatures, fixings, mounts, support and display systems. Recent Conservation Projects in a freelance capacity include:
Restoration of a large gold and glass mosaic sculpture for the permanent collection at the FE McWilliam Gallery in Banbridge, Northern Ireland. Cleaning marble busts for DUBLIN CASTLE. Cleaning and restoring two marble figures by Emma Stebbins in Belfast Central Library for a retrospective exhibition of the artists work at The Hecksher Museum in New York. Working, for several years, in partnership with Sophie Lerner of RL Conservation, Dublin: Removal of a large scale pictorial mosaic (approximately 48 meters²) from the surface of a concrete column situated within a corporate building in Dublin city centre. Deinstallation of a ceramic relief, mounted externally on the wall of a Dublin city centre commercial building. De-installation and restoration of a large monumental plaster cast of Laocoon and sons from Dublin Art College in preparation for exhibition at IMMA in Dublin. A complex sculptural group of three figures intertwined by a large serpent. Major structural and surface repairs were carried out. A vandalised arm was completely removed and subsequently re-attached. Also, modifications to an internal armature and, externally, multiple plaster repairs. Cleaning and re-waxing five large Bronze monumental sculptures and their stone plinths on St STEPHEN’S GREEN in Dublin: The Famine Memorial, The Three Fates Fountain, and the Monuments to Wolfe Tone, Lord Ardilaun and Robert Emmet. Cleaning, re-waxing and minor repairs to a large bronze/copper frieze for the War Memorials Museum in Belfast. Restoring and remounting a display of wall mounted moroccan ceramic tiles within an iron framework for a private collector.
NORWICH CATHEDRAL (April to July 2015):
Conserving and restoring three bays of medieval stonework in the cloisters of Norwich Cathedral to provide an exemplar of conservation practice for future programs of work. Restoration of badly deteriorated limestone tracery windows involving extensive lime mortar repairs and remodelling of mouldings and decorative features with supporting armatures. Consolidation, cleaning and repair of a vaulted stone ceiling, Purbeck marble columns and medieval polychromed roof bosses. Lime-based mortars were created to match the texture and colour of original stonework. Hydraulic limes and lime puttys were used as appropriate and a shelter coat and lime washes were applied to unify the fills with the original stone tracery. Also, fills and repairs to the Purbeck marble columns.
TAYLOR PEARCE RESTORATION SERVICES LTD, LONDON: SCULPTURE CONSERVATOR (October 2011-March 2015)
Conserving, restoring and installing a wide range of sculpture, monuments, architectural detail, antiquities and works of art in a huge range of locations. -Conservation treatments on a broad range of materials -stones, wood, bronze and plaster objects. In addition to conserving sculpture for display in museums and galleries, architectural and decorative detail was repaired and restored for a wide range of Historic and Heritage properties. Work involved many sculpture installations for exhibitions, galleries, national museums, churches and for the Royal palaces, involving designing and fabricating fixings and mount solutions and creating complex packing and transport solutions for the safe movement and storage of objects. The breadth and range of work undertaken was very wide ranging and although too numerous to list individually in detail, some examples are listed here: THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM in Oxford: As part of a small team, I worked installing sculpture and artifacts in to the new Egyptian, Greek and Roman galleries. SIR JOHN SOANES MUSEUM: Installation of sculpture and re-display of stone objects and wall-mounted plaster casts in to the crowded and constricted confines of a narrow stairwell. THE TOWER OF LONDON CHAPEL (St Peter ad Vincula). Cleaning historic monuments and the stone floor in the historic chapel. BETHLEM MUSEUM OF MIND: South London. Conservation to two extraordinary carved figures from the gates of the 17th century Bethlehem Hospital (Bedlam). Raving and Melancholy Madness by Caius Gabriel Cibber. THE IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM: Installing and repairing a large plaster freize depicting scenes from the first world war by the artist Charles Sergeant Jaggers. THE ROYAL COLLECTION: Cleaning marble busts and installing sculpture. Mould making: Making complex silicon rubber moulds with supporting jackets for large figurative sculptures (at The Sir JOHN SOANES MUSEUM & ST. BOTOLPHS CHURCH in the City of London) and subsequently to cast the figures in materials to match the original. HAMPTON COURT PALACE: restoring and installing a badly damaged baptismal font. THE ROYAL ACADEMY in London: cleaning and restoring plaster casts. Also, condition checking objects for the “Bronze” exhibition. Hampstead Heath: cleaning stone and bronze sculptures by Barbara Hepworth and Henry Moore on permanent display on the heath. PALACE OF WESTMINSTER: cleaning and restoring a Tudor Lion standard. BRIGHTON PAVILION: cleaning and restoration of an elaborate limestone fireplace. ANISH KAPOOR: restoring losses and areas of damage to a large monumental sandstone sculpture by the artist Anish Kapoor (“Not Eve”) applying textured and colour-matched fills to invisibly blend with the surrounding surface. A wide range of clients included The Royal Palaces (Windsor Castle, Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace, The Queens Gallery), Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London Chapel, Sir John Soanes Museum, The Royal Academy, The Imperial War Museum, Kew Gardens, Chelsea Physic Garden, The Ashmolean Museum, The Lisson Gallery, White Cube Gallery, Gagosian Gallery, Damien Hirst, Anish Kapoor, Howard Hodgkin
SCULPTURE CONSERVATOR for “HIRST CONSERVATION” at The ROYAL SOCIETY OF ARTS in LONDON (Summer 2010):
Stabilising and restoring an elaborate low relief plaster/stucco ceiling by Robert Adam and reinstating the original colour scheme in Lead paint.
VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM, LONDON: SCULPTURE CONSERVATOR (April 2005 - March 2010)
Lead sculpture conservator for three large-scale, wide-ranging projects:
The Medieval and Renaissance Galleries : The de-installation, conservation and re-display of the entire M&R sculpture collection over a four year period. Objects differed hugely in scale and materials and ranged from small carved polychromed ivory reliquaries to the dismantling, conservation and rebuilding of five storey high stone monuments in to the architectural structure of the museum. An enormous wide ranging project of great complexity.The Michael and Dorothy Hintz Galleries : The de-installation, conservation and re-installation of 17th – late 19th Century monumental stone sculpture in to the new “Sculpture in Britain” Gallery. Jameel Gallery : Lead conservator for conservation and overseeing the installation of Islamic and Middle Eastern artworks in to new purpose-built galleries.
Cleaning, restoration and creating mount systems for Greek, Roman and Byzantine mosaics and antiquities (Oct 2002 - April 2005)
Object conservator at KERSONESIS ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN THE UKRAINE for the UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS (Summer 2003)
Managing university students from the Ukraine and Texas in the interpretation, conservation and display of a large archaeological site on the shores of the Black sea.
TAYLOR PEARCE RESTORATION SERVICES LTD. LONDON: SCULPTURE CONSERVATOR (1993- 2002)
Conserving and restoring a huge range of sculpture, monuments, architectural objects and art works for individuals, private collections, institutions, museums, galleries and the Royal palaces.
The breadth and range of conservation work undertaken over this period was enormous. Individual projects are too numerous to list here in detail, however, amongst hundreds of individual projects….
ST MARTINS IN THE FIELD, CENTRAL LONDON: Removing, cleaning and re-installing wall monuments in the crypt of the church. CHRIST CHURCH, SPITALFIELDS, LONDON: Removing, cleaning and installing a wall monument. ALL SAINTS CHURCH, MARGARET ST, LONDON: Removing modern overpainting to reveal the original, richly coloured design of marbles and inlaid plaster. Derby Cathedral: Conservation and restoration of historic monuments. Fitzwilliam museum, Cambridge: restoration of water damaged plaster figures in the dome of the museum. Windsor Castle & Kensington Palace: Making moulds and casting four marble cupids carved by Camillo Rusconi to represent the four seasons Buckingham Palace: Making a complex mould in-situ of a life size marble statue of Dorothea Jordan, mistress of William IV, and casting a plaster replica of the figure for an exhibition at Kenwood House on Hampstead heath. Freud Museum in Hampstead, London: De-installing, restoring and cleaning a bronze statue of Sigmund Freud. UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD: cleaning and restoring the monument to the poet Percy Bysshe Shelly. - Marble and bronze, supporting a white Carrera marble figure of the poet carved by Onslow Ford. WINDSOR CASTLE: restoring a large malachite urn damaged in the fire at the castle. PALACE OF WESTMINSTER: de-installing six medieval stone kings from niches located high on the walls of the Great Hall. Also cleaning and restoring a marble and alabaster figure (Harcourt) in the Commons Lobby. ST. MARY UNDERCROFT, the Crypt Chapel Baptistry in the Houses of Parliament. Cleaning and restoring the inlaid alabaster panels and surrounding decorative stone work and font in the baptistry. SOMERSET HOUSE: restoring architectural detail, Coade Stone urns and decorative stone detailing on the exterior of the building. Also, gilding numerals on a clock face and the attributes held by stone figures on the parapet. SOMERSET HOUSE: restoring approximately a hundred historic marble, wood and limestone fire surrounds within the building. KEW GARDENS: restoration of COADE STONE urns in front of the Palm House, cleaning and restoring historic stonework, architectural detail and re-gilding elements in The Queens Garden. Public monuments in London: cleaning, conservation and maintenance of multiple public monuments and statuary across the city of London: Amongst many -Two large equestrian sculptures on Horseguards Parade, the monument to the Marines & The Queen Victoria Monument on the Mall, The Burghers of Calais outside the Houses of Parliament, The Millais sculpture outside of Tate Britain, The Coade Stone River God in Richmond.
