The workshop provides training in the conservation-restoration of easel paintings using a wide variety of techniques (tempera, oil, acrylic, etc.) and media (canvas, wood, metal, etc.) from all periods. Recently, the teaching of mural painting in fresco, on plaster or on canvas has been developed and deepened.
The Paintings speciality workshop is run by Claudia Sindaco and Nelly Cochet.
Claudia Sindaco-Domas is responsible for the speciality, and teaches and coordinates the conservation-restoration of paintings. She is a heritage restorer for French museums.
Nelly Cochet is assistant to the head of the specialism and is involved in teaching and coordinating the conservation-restoration of paintings. She is a heritage restorer for museums and historic monuments.
Work in workshop
Conservation-restoration is taught firstly through observation and description exercises (condition assessment), then interpretation (diagnosis, prognosis), and then by carrying out treatments on objects entrusted to the department by public institutions. Students thus work in a professional context, in relation to the institution and the person responsible for the work.
These stages in the restoration process follow an in-depth preliminary study, which requires the participation of the laboratory.
From left to right:
Krief, Léa; Breault, Marianne; Jouen, Camille; Chardon-Marchetto, Elise, "Etude et conservation-restauration d’un carton peint pour tapisserie, peint par Pierre Josse Perrot (1678-1750)", Médiathèque numérique de l'Inp, https://mediatheque-numerique.inp.fr/documentation-oeuvres/rapports-res…
Diascorn, Marine; Druesnes, Dalila, "Rapport de restauration, Marine Auguste Matisse", Médiathèque numérique de l'Inp, https://mediatheque-numerique.inp.fr/documentation-oeuvres/rapports-res…
Internships and field-schools
During their 3rd year, student conservators-restorers have a 3-month internship in France at a public institution, a regional or local studio, a service with national competence or with an independent restorer. In their 4th year, they add to their professional experience with a 22-week practical internship in an institutional or private restoration studio abroad.
This is an opportunity for them to put their knowledge into practice, to acquire new skills and build a professional network while discovering other methods and considerations.
At the same time, the students attend field-schools.
From their first year of training, students in conservation-restoration participate in preventive conservation projects. Over the next four years, they interact in field-schools in France and abroad thus giving them a first hands-on experience under the supervision of the coordinators of each of the specialties.
This unique pedagogical approach received the EU Cultural Heritage Prize / Europa Nostra Award in 2018.
Since 1991, the Institut national du patrimoine has held 233 field schools in France and abroad, at major institutions such as the Louvre, the Sorbonne and the Petit Palais, as well as in the provinces, such as in Lourdes, Dijon and Strasbourg, and outside France, in the Lebanon, Italy, Senegal, Albania, India and China.
Master's thesis
The fifth year is the degree year, during which the student is placed in a professional situation and manages a conservation-restoration project independently under the guidance of a thesis director, the head of the workshop, their assistant or an external advisor.
