From John Bettes's portrait A Man in a Black Cap, Tate's earliest picture, to the work of artists living in the present day, Tate's is a wide-ranging collection of paintings that spans five centuries.
Project Case Studies:
The direct translation of the French "La Feuille de Vigne", would be "Vine Leaf", but the equivalent meaning of something to cover one’s modesty is relevant to this piece, therefore it is known as the "Fig Leaf" in English.
The exhibition Pre-Raphaelite Vision: Truth to Nature at Tate Britain in 2004 provided an opportunity to revisit this painting...
Cruikshank's major work about the evils and horrors of alcohol has not been seen in public for nearly 100 years. Before its restoration, the painting was in a totally unexhibitable condition.
Paintings often appear little changed. However, critical changes in appearance can compromise their original aesthetic intention.
One of a series of small oil paintings on wood panel, depicting the beach at Rosas on the east coast of Spain. Recently, the work was in the conservation studio for a technical examination.
This painting was acquired by Tate in 1995 - nothing was known about the sitters or the history of the portrait.
Millais's Hearts are Trumps is currently on display in the Linbury galleries following major treatment of the painting and frame by Tate Conservation.
Ben Nicholson's large Festival of Britain Mural is only 50 years old. But when it was presented to Tate in 1995 there was no question of displaying it. Extensive damage had occurred.
An interview with conservator Rebecca Hellen about this complex conservation project.
Soon after Tate Modern opened, the Gallery Assistants Maintenance Group was established...
Removing discoloured varnishes and old, mismatched restoration from this large equestrian portrait.
Conservation of this painting by Johan Zoffany, ready for the forthcoming retrospective exhibition at Tate Britain.
Projects elsewhere at Tate Online
A loose association of about fifteen artists in London in the years around 1910, the Camden Town Group was a distinctive and leading force in the development of modern British art.
Paints made over the last seventy years have been increasingly likely to contain synthetic binders and pigments. These synthetic paints are found in works by many modern artists.
![British School 16th century 1500-1599, A Young Lady Aged 21, Possibly Helena Snakenborg, Later Marchioness of Northampton, 1569 [detail, photographed in raking light]. Tate. Presented by the Friends of the Tate Gallery, 1961](/conservation/generic/projectboxes/tudorstewart.jpg)
Cataloguing all Tate works by artists born up to 1674 who worked in Britain, covering 106 paintings and more than forty works on paper over the period circa 1540-circa 1720.
