Last spring, the Cardiff Story Museum was given a Federation small grant to
conserve its painting ‘Terra Nova leaving Cardiff’.
The painting was originally commissioned by two Cardiff Aldermen to mark
the city’s pride in playing a key role in funding Captain Scott’s ill-fated
Antarctic expedition, and the money needed for it was raised from public
subscription. Scott named Cardiff as the expedition’s home port in recognition
of the help and support he had had from South Wales’ businesses and public,
and his ship the Terra Nova left Cardiff Docks in June 1910 on its way to the
South Pole.
Having managed to bid successfully for the painting at auction a few months
earlier, the Museum wanted to make sure that the painting was cared for and
protected for the future, but also that visitors would actually be able to see and
access the information it holds about the Docks in the early part of the 20th
century, and about the event itself.
“When I first saw it in the Bonhams’ sale room before the auction, the painting
looked really quite dull – both in detail and in colour,” explains Museum
Officer, Victoria Rogers. “It was obvious just how many decades of dirt and
smoke filled rooms it had had to withstand since it had been commissioned in
1910!”
“The difference that the conservation work has made to the painting is
amazing. The work Rachel [Howells, painting conservator] did to remove the
layers of surface dirt, nicotine and deteriorating varnish has uncovered a
vibrancy and detail that I certainly wasn’t expecting - and it definitely looks
much, much better hanging in our gallery now than it did!”