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. Men of the South (1921-22) by Seán Keating is one of the most recognisable works in the collection. Its removal from the Gallery requires a meticulous process to ensure its safety and preservation. The following outlines the careful steps taken to decant the artwork with expert handling and conservation measures.

To begin the process, our expert handlers carefully remove the work from the wall and rest it on foam blocks for protection.

Image: Chloé Griffin

After the work is removed, our Arts Conservator conduct a thorough condition check to ensure the painting is safe for packing and transit, while also documenting any potential future conservation needs.

Image: Chloé Griffin

To prepare the work for transport offsite, the fixings are repositioned on the back of the frame in a way that differs from how they are usually placed while the artwork is displayed on the Gallery walls. 

Image: Chloé Griffin

The work is carefully lowered into a wooden travel frame (T-Frame) for protection while being transported to our offsite storage.

Image: Chloé Griffin

Additional batons are secured to the front of the travel frame for extra protection. With these precautions in place, the artwork is now ready for its journey out of the Gallery, until it returns to the newly transformed Crawford Art Gallery.

Image: Chloé Griffin

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