Adding antique fine art to your home, including paintings, sculptures, and textiles, enhances its beauty while giving you the pleasure of elegant surroundings. But owning antique artworks is not a “set it and forget it” proposition. All artworks need ongoing care, and antique artworks, which are pieces 100 years old or older, need special attention. Here’s a brief guide for preserving your antique fine art.

Keep It Out of Direct Sunlight

Shielding antique art from direct sunlight is especially important for paintings but can apply to textiles like rugs and blankets as well as painted sculptures or wood pieces. Just as UV rays are bad for your skin, they’re bad for artwork. Excess sunlight can cause fading and flaking in paintings, leach color from textiles, and dry wood until it cracks.

Try to place antique artworks in areas that don’t get direct sunlight. If you intend to use lights to illuminate paintings, go with a lower-watt bulb that doesn’t emit too much heat.

Ensure a Consistent Environment

Works of art like a steady temperature and humidity level. Maintaining a home environment that’s not too warm, not too cold, and not too humid is ideal for most antique art. Use that Goldilocks rule where the indoor environment is just right to help preserve your antique art collection.

Clean Carefully

Antiques, like anything else in your home, can get dusty. But don’t go after them with a vacuum! First, inspect the piece to ensure there is no flaking paint that would come loose even with the gentlest dusting. If you see flaking, leave the cleaning to a professional art restorer.

If your piece is in good shape with no visible cracks, chipping, or flakes, you can use a soft artist’s brush to gently remove dust. Hold the piece at an angle facing forward so dust will fall off it rather than move from one part of it to another.

Solvang Antiques maintains a robust collection of antique and vintage art pieces you can view and purchase online or come and view works in our store in charming Solvang, California. If you see something you like online, contact us for more information. We’re happy to help with tips on how to care for and preserve the antique artworks you purchase from us.