Detail: Since its founding, The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been committed to the care and technical study of
artworks in its collections. Museum staff played a pivotal role in transforming the craft of art
restoration and repair into the profession of art conservation, which is based on modern advances in the
material sciences. In the early 1960s a committee headed by Murray Pease, the first person to hold the
title of conservator at the Museum, wrote a set of ethical and professional guidelines for the American
Group of the International Institute for Conservation that continues to guide conservators today. These
guidelines state that testing and treatment should only be undertaken for "the preservation of the
aesthetic, conceptual, and physical characteristics of artwork." As a result, examination techniques
requiring little or no samples are employed before any treatment is undertaken, and minimal treatments are
performed using materials that will not deteriorate, which was not always true of past restorations.
Considerable attention is also given to the environments in which works are displayed, from the mounting
and design of the exhibition casework to the light, temperature, and humidity levels in the galleries.