Cleaning 2010: New Insights into the Cleaning of Paintings. Preprints containing the abstracts of the International Conference “New Insights into the Cleaning of Paintings (Cleaning 2010)” held in Valencia in May 26th to 28th and organized jointly by the Instituto Universitario de Restauracion del Patrimonio (Universidad Politecnica de Valencia) and the Museum Conservation Institute (Smithsonian Institution)

Lectures include: The Art and Science of Cleaning Paintings by Stephen Hackney; Surface Cleaning of Paintings and Polychrome Objects in Italy: The Last Fifteen Years; The Removal of Patina; Solvents, Gels, and Cotton Swabs… Be Careful!; The Chemistry of Egg Binding Medium and its Interactions with Organic Solvents and Water; Oils: The Chemistry of Drying Oils and the Potential for Solvent Disruption; The Influence of Pigments and Ion Migration on the Durability of Drying Oil and Alkyd Paints; Effects of Organic Solvents on Artists’ Oil Paint Films; Quantifying Solvent Leaching Effects on Aged Oil Paints; Changes in the Appearance of 19th Century Grounds on Canvas upon Varnishing and Varnish Removal; Cleaning of Acrylic Emulsion Paints: Preliminary Extractive Studies with Two Commercial Paint Systems; Surfactants and Acrylic Emulsion Paints: Evaluating Changes Induced by Wet Surface Cleaning Treatments; A Multi-Technique Approach for Evaluating Cleaning Treatments in Acrylic and PVAc Paints; Characterization and Stability Issues of Artists’ Alkyd Paints; The Non-Ideal Action of Binary Solvent Mixtures on Oil and Alkyd Paint; Sensitivity of Oil Paint Surfaces to Aqueous and Other Solvents; Rigid Gels and Enzyme Cleaning; Effects of Commercial Soaps on Unvarnished Painted Surfaces. A Pilot Study for their Assessment in Spanish Museums; Dry Cleaning Approaches for Unvarnished Paint Surfaces; and, The Modular Cleaning Program in Practice: Application to Acrylic Paintings. Posters include: A Preliminary Investigation into the Surface Characteristics of Paint and the Implications for Restoration; Residues on Unvarnished Surfaces After Absorene[registered] Sponge Dry Cleaning; The Schlurfer: A Vacuum Technique for the Cleaning of Paintings; Surface Cleaning with Aqueous Foams; Computer Applications and Cleaning: Teas Fractional Solubility Parameter System in Conservation; Effects of Solvents on the Physical Properties of Polymeric Films; The Influence of Organic Solvents on the Mechanical Properties of Pigments Tempera and Oil Paint; Oxalate-Rich Surface Layers on Paintings: Implications for Interpretation and Cleaning; A Preliminary Study into the Effects of Cleaning PVAc Paints; The Removal of Commercial Varnishes from Acrylic Paints; The Use of Ionic Liquids for Varnish Removal: Effectiveness and Risk Evaluation; An Evaluation of Disinfection and Cleaning Methods on PVAc Paintings; Tissue Gel Composite Cleaning at SRAL; Partially Hydrolyzed Poly(Vinyl Acetate) and Borax Gels for Cleaning Painted Surfaces; Non-Contact and Non-Invasive Monitoring of Overpaint Removal with Optical Coherence Tomography; Laser Cleaning Applied to Contemporary Paintings: Optimization of Working Parameters; A Cleaning Protocol for Non-Original Layers on Polychrome Artifacts: A Catalonian Initiative; A New Documentation System: SU Recording Sheets Applied to the Cleaning of a 15th Century Painting; Our Lady of Grace: A Carefully Planned Cleaning Methodology; Unconventional Treatment of Unusual Blanching in a Portrait of a Boy by Wybrand de Geest (1592-1660); Use of Agar Cyclododecane for Cleaning Tests on a Frail Painting; Non-Invasive Assessments of Cleaning Tests on an Unvarnished Oil-Painting on Canvas by Edvard Munch; Challenges in the Cleaning Procedure of 1960’s Pop Art. Mixed Gouache and Egg Tempera on Plywood; and The Effects of Conductivity on Water Solubility: Cleaning a Modern Chinese Oil Painting.