As we prepare for our upcoming Capital Redevelopment Transforming Crawford Art Gallery, we have started to decant over 3,500 works of the National Collection housed at Crawford Art Gallery. These works will be moved to secure storage, and to other institutions for Touring and Sharing. One of the works recently decanted from the Gallery is our iconic Portrait of Roy Keane by Murdo MacLeod.

To begin the process, our technicians carefully remove the work from walls, and transport it to our Lower Gallery which has transformed into a packing station.

Image: Chloé Griffin

The work is then condition checked by our conservator to determine whether it needs additional care or conservation before it is carefully wrapped.

Image: Clare Keogh

After the condition check, the work is taken to a packing station. As this work is a photograph, it will be soft wrapped to protect it for transport.

Image: Chloé Griffin

Once the wrapping is completed, the work will be transported to secure storage, where it will rest until it returns to the Gallery in 2027.

Image: Chloé Griffin

To watch our Registrar Jean O’Donovan describe this process in more detail, watch the below video!