On dusting at the Wallace Collection
February 29 2012
Video: BBC
Following my little rant about dusty frames, a reader writes:
I loved your idea of moonlighting at the Wallace Collection with a duster. It reminded me of my favourite Two Ronnies sketch [above, about the cleaning tramp].
Another reader writes:
On “doing the dusting”: when I had a very modest family “ancestor” oil painting cleaned, the restorer suggested turning the picture upside down in the frame and hey presto the nice clean section showed up well at the bottom of the picture and the dirty old one with years of accumulated dirt and dust is barely visible!
Excellent idea. But not necessary! For (and now it's confession time) when I was at the Wallace last weekend, I sidled up to one of the said dusty frames, and gave it a very gentle puff. Up flew a plume of dust. Apologies to the Wallace Collection for this - and for the record, I'm not encouraging anybody else to do the same...
Finally, in the interests of balance, another reader writes:
I prefer the dusty frames to the brash wall coverings.
Very true - but the mix of the two is what jars.
