In the beginning the Art Gallery of NSW, which was established in the late 1880s, engaged the services of a commercial picture frame maker, print seller and restorer to undertake framing, mounting and restoration of works of art as necessary.

On 25 February 1899 a letter appeared in the Melbourne Argus expressing concern about the condition of the paintings at the National Gallery of Victoria. As the debate continued over many months, the Art Gallery of NSW was drawn into the discussion with the admission than many of our paintings were suffering similar problems.

On 19 May 1899 a special meeting of Art Gallery of NSW Trustees was held and an advisory group formed called the ‘Cracking and Restoration Sub-committee’. Numerous letters were sent to eminent British experts requesting advice regarding the care and restoration of paintings. One reply from the National Gallery in London stated that it ‘has a keeper who earns his salary by incessant and conscientious watching of canvases, and a salaried restorer who is always at work on the first incipient decay discovered’.

The Art Gallery of NSW also received a letter from a Sydney restorer setting out his opinions in regard to the problems of the cracked paintings and including a set of test panels that demonstrated poor technique and materials that he hypothesised were the cause. The Trustees were impressed and employed him to undertake restoration work on three paintings in the Gallery basement, under the direct supervision of the Trustee Julian Ashton.

Although pleased with the restorer’s work, the Trustees were persuaded to send several paintings that had cracked badly back to English artists for restoration. When the paintings were returned to Australia, the Trustees were horrified at the extent of repainting, and they turned again to the services of the local restorer, employing him as the Gallery restorer.

This restorer trained the Gallery picture frame maker and attendant, and on the original restorer’s departure in 1908, the apprentice became the new frame maker and conservator. In 1927 the frame maker’s son was employed as his replacement.

In 1933 the first purpose-built conservation department was constructed at the rear of the Gallery. In 1950 a new conservator was appointed who had been originally employed as a carpenter and joiner and then trained in-house. After undertaking conservation training at the Courtauld Institute in London, he ran a program at the Art Gallery of NSW to train conservators for a number of new national cultural institutions in Canberra.

In 1969 the old conservation department was demolished for the building of the Captain Cook wing and a new one opened in 1970 on the roof of the extension. This was in turn demolished during the development of the Asian gallery and building of the Rudy Komon Gallery and a new department opened in 2000.

Today the department employs several trained conservators with specialties other than paintings conservation, including the areas of works on paper, Asian works on paper, objects and frames.