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Highlights in this issue

Conservation of the Portuguese Centrepiece

Diana Heath, Head of Metalwork Conservation, Conservation Department

The Portuguese Service was presented in 1816 to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, to honour him for leading the armies of the Triple Alliance (Spain, Portugal and Great Britain) to victory against the French forces of Napoleon in the Peninsular War (1808-14).

Conservation of Lord Leighton's Spirit Frescoes 'War' and 'Peace'

Stephen Rickerby, Private Wall Painting Conservator

The spirit frescoes were painted by Frederic, Lord Leighton in the late  19th century as the crowning achievement of the South Court of the South Kensington Museum and were  conserved  to mark the centenary of his death in 1996. The paintings were not only ambitious in scope but also experimental in their technique

The Conservation of a Fourteenth Century Chasuble

Albertina Cogram, Textiles Conservator, Conservation Department

Chasubles are worn by officiating priests during the celebration of mass; the  fabric for this chasuble was woven in Lucca, Italy and dates from about 1380. Conservation treatment on it began in 1987 and was finally completed in 1995.

The Conservation of the Portrait Bust of Giovanni de'Medici (later Pope Leo X)

Alexandra Kosinova, Senior Sculpture Conservator, Conservation Department

The Cardinal Giovanni de'Medici bust is a rare example of a Renaissance terracotta portrait bust which has retained its original paint, as many were stripped during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.