A Closer Look: The Many Lives of an 18th-Century Painting
Conservation of François Boucher’s Vertumnus and Pomona
A working tapestry cartoon, an architectural decoration, and a gallery picture, Vertumnus and Pomona by François Boucher and his studio is a painting whose function and format have dramatically shifted over the centuries. Emily A. Beeny, chief curator of the Legion of Honor, and Elise Effmann Clifford, head of paintings conservation, share insights gained through a multiyear treatment and research project.
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A Closer Look: The many lives of an 18th-century painting
About the presenters
Emily A. Beeny is chief curator of the Legion of Honor and Barbara A. Wolfe Curator in Charge of European Paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Since joining the Museums in 2021, she has spearheaded a series of major paintings acquisitions and overseen the reinstallation of the Legion’s Baroque galleries. A specialist in French paintings and drawings of the 17th–19th century, she received her PhD from Columbia University and has held curatorial appointments at the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Norton Simon Museum, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Elise Effmann Clifford is the head paintings conservator at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco where she oversees the care, examination, treatment, and technical study of the paintings in the collection. She has published research on paintings by the Le Nain brothers, John Roddam Spencer Stanhope, and Robert Peake the Elder. Before joining the Museums in 2007, she was the assistant conservator of paintings at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in paintings conservation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
About the “A Closer Look” series
This program is part of our “A Closer Look” series, a new curatorial lecture series exploring both the development of the Museums’ distinct collections and their art historical significance. Beginning at the Legion of Honor and expanding to the de Young soon, the series features in-depth presentations that highlight collection gems while demystifying creative practices that span thousands of years.
Contact info
Public Programs
publicprograms@famsf.org
415.750.7694
